Roadmap
by Alec Ramsey
Summary: Scars are said to be the roadmap of the soul. The physical and emotional scar on Tristan has had her running from a haunting past until she lands in Bon Temps. Bad things have a way of catching up to her.
1. Miles Away

**1. Miles Away**

**"I just woke up from a fuzzy dream, you never would believe the things I have seen."**

I feel weak. I look like I haven't slept in weeks. I thought to myself as I stared in the mirror. The images and visions that were haunting me during the night kept me from getting any amount of quality rest. Some day, I figured, these nightmares had to fade away. It's been a rough six years and because of it, I don't feel 25, I feel more like a 35 year old bat. One of those crazy women who was going to wind up completely alone with fifteen cats or something. I've learned to mask myself well and have put up quite the front of severe attitude that kept most people at bay, the smart ones at least. The dumb ones did learn eventually. These days I just preferred to be left alone, talking to people and becoming friendly with them lead to too many questions. Questions that I didn't want to answer. For some reason people seem to believe that they have some sort of right to know your past and your history, I obviously do not feel the same way. Which would prove why I have no friends but that's ok, solitary life is much much better for me.

It took me a while to settle on this new place to live, it's not easy moving around all of the time but I get this feeling that rolls through me and lets me know when it's time to leave. There's some sort of nomadic or gypsy type of energy inside of me, I get that. I've never been one to overanalyze myself though, especially about moving around frequently. Maybe I don't analyze it because it's never a bad vibe or feeling that I get, it's more of a restlessness. This time I have settled upon the town of Bon Temps in northern Louisiana. I've been here nearly two weeks now and nearly everyday I curse myself for the wonderful choice I had made by choosing to move here. I was not one for heat or humidity. There was something though about this place, something that felt right and something that felt eerie. I figured that this town couldn't be crawling with too many vampires or possibly none at all, they seemed to reside in the more populated areas. The country feel too, I figured, would be a nice touch to life. I wasn't a stranger to small towns, I in fact preferred them. It may not be a huge difference but there is a difference between small town life and country small town life, it was a refreshing feeling to try something new.

Today I start my new job. I'll be working as a bartender at a place called Merlotte's, there really wasn't much else available and I have the experience. Sam Merlotte, the owner, was pretty eager to have me start right away. He wanted me to start working the very night I walked in to the bar/restaurant last week, I made him aware that I had just moved to town and needed about a week to get my new house settled. He had no choice but to accept that. He seemed like he was going to be a good boss, I hate the overbearing type that are constantly looking over your shoulder. Luckily for him he didn't seem the type. I'd hate to have be out on my ass again too soon trying to tie down another job, plus he seemed like a genuine kind of guy that came across as compassionate. I'd really be disappointed if I had to be an asshole to him as I had been to so many others in the past. Upon my first and only impression of some of the waitresses at Merlotte's, there might be a slight problem of annoyance with one or two of them. The buxom perky blonde with the funny name of Sookie, was going to be a true challenge and a test of tolerance for me. When Sam introduced the two of us, she was a little too smiley and a little too talkative. She went on and on about the bar and Sam and the other waitresses and some of the patrons that will be coming in and out. Somehow in all that she said in those few minutes, the only thing that kept ringing around in my head was the simple small statement about a patron, Vampire Bill. He is her _boyfriend._ She wasn't simply a fangbanger or a familiar, she was in a serious relationship with this vampire. I can't understand this way of life, not anymore. Of course vampires these days are "out of the coffin", they no longer live and lurk in the shadows courtesy of the Japanese invention of synthetic blood. So much has changed. I accepted the change because there is absolutely nothing I can do about it and I can't stay stagnant in life, have to continue moving forward. It was definitely tough in the beginning but I don't hate or dislike vampires in general, let's just say that one had left a very bad taste in my mouth. A taste that has been haunting me psychologically for the past 6 years. I really need to get over it and get past it, I'll never get closure so I don't understand myself and the lingering memories.

It was five o' clock and that meant that I had an hour to get ready and head to work. I had spent the day lazily lounging on the couch and channel surfing. Tonight seemed like it was headed to be a nice change of pace, it'll keep me out of my head and on my feet and the tasks before me. But being a small town I have no idea on whether this bar would be busy at all. I just hoped it'd be busy enough to keep me occupied, there's only so many times you can pretend to wipe down a clean bar. As soon as I was wrapped in the towel from my quick shower, I started thinking about what I should wear. It's not a classy place nor is it the club type, where certain attire is expected, it was a small town country bar. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and headed back to the bathroom to run a comb through my hair. Between the shower, getting dressed and ready I only took about a half hour. I wasn't the overly fussy type about my appearance, I didn't dress for anyone. Clothing to me is all about comfort and function, not fashion or to lure attention. I hardly wore any makeup, just some mascara on my long lashes was enough to make them stand out and some chapstick on lips for both moisture and a little gloss. My hair I usually left down and natural, I only pulled it back into a ponytail if I needed to get it out of my way for whatever work I was doing. It's long enough, just to the bottom of my shoulder blades, and I never waste time dying it. I actually like my natural color, a medium to light brown with some sun kissed blonde highlights throughout. The only problem is that I have a lot of it, my hair is sort of thick so I'm not sure how much it'll be left down in this climate. My hair has a natural wave to it, nothing heavy just kind of tousled looking, so leaving it down and natural was pleasing to the eye. I lucked out in that department.

I arrived to work about ten minutes before my six pm shift was to start. Walking through the back entrance of the bar, I headed down the hallway to Sam's office where I set my purse down on a shelf. _The employee's lockers and lounge._ I thought to myself and gave a light chuckle. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a voice sounded behind me. I spun around quickly and looked Sam in the eye.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya". He said sheepishly. He definitely saw the startle in my eyes. He reached a hand out to me and touched my shoulder lightly.

"No need to apologize. No harm done. I don't know why but I wasn't expecting to see anyone until I made my way up front". I said frankly and moved away from his touch. He was quick about it but I caught the quick glance over my form in my fitted jeans and t-shirt. I couldn't help but smile to myself and walk to the office door, I moved around him carefully and went up the hallway to the front. I got myself situated behind the bar, taking mental notes as to where the important things were kept. There was no real high priced or fancy liquor here, though they did have some good things.

The first two hours went by easily, being a bartender was not a difficult job for me given my past experience. I do possess the talents of Tom Cruise's character in the movie Cocktail, but performing any of those moves here would just be straight up showing off and I really don't care to impress anyone. Sookie a couple of times made comments as to how well I am fairing behind the bar. She also said she was surprised, which made me laugh. I know the girl isn't dumb or anything of the sorts, I just found it amusing that someone could be so impressed that I took to the bartending job without any hitches. I was lost in my observations of a young man sitting at a table with a couple of friends that I didn't hear the _person_ approach and sit at one of the stools at the bar right in front of me. His voice was low and smooth as he spoke.

"Excuse me, could I bother you for a bottle of True Blood. O positive". When I turned to look at the _man _making the request, my breath caught in my throat a little. His dark brown eyes just bore into me.

"Uh, sure". Was all I could muster up in response to him. I immediately turned my back to him, grabbed a bottle of the synthetic blood he ordered. I twisted off the cap and placed it in the microwave in front me. I kept my back to him, while I waited on the microwave to finish doing it's job. I was hoping to regain my bearings before having to turn and face him again. There was something familiar about him, he looked somewhat similar to a figure in my past. The brown hair, the brown eyes, the chiseled face, yep a very familiar figure. The microwave had finished so I quickly grabbed the bottle and turned to face the handsome stranger again. His lips curved ever so slightly into a small but pleasing smile, his head was faced downward a little and his eyes had a slight twinkle to them as he looked up at me.

I set the bottle before him, "Anything else?" I said with the release of the breath I had been apparently holding.

Even though the smile from his lips had disappeared, it was still written all over his face and his features which looked as though they had been carved from stone. It wasn't a smile of amusement or a predator looking at his prey, it was more of a curious thing. "Could you tell me your name?" He southern drawl was very appealing and even for a dead man, he still had manners. I was slightly impressed.

"Tristan." Quick and to the point. That's me.

With a gentlemanly nod, "Bill Compton." Was all he said to me in response. He looked at me as though he was waiting for something. But what was I supposed to say or do, I didn't care that he is a vampire nor did I care that he was Sookie's boyfriend. I don't understand that sort of relationship anymore but it didn't mean that I cared either way.

I smiled at him slightly, more so to be polite and said, "Well, let me know if there's anything else you need. Sookie is working that section of the bar tonight if you'd like to find a table or booth to get comfortable in while you wait for her." I pointed to the left side of the bar but his eyes did not follow, he didn't even turn his head. He simply stared at me, with a quick glance here and there at the rest of me.

"Tristan, may I ask where you are from?" For some reason the vampire was making some small talk with me. Strange.

"No where in particular, all over the place really."

"Where is the last place you lived? Surely this cannot be a tough question to answer." He said with a slight chuckle.

"Alaska."

"You don't say much but you wont walk away from the conversation either. Which is what I find most people would do if they didn't want to talk or engage in a conversation. Maybe you don't like talking to me because I am a vampire, but if you don't like talking much in general why take on a job where you must interact with strangers regularly?" He had an amused look on his face, like he was proud or something. I didn't quite get it.

"I have no problem with you being a vampire. I have no problems talking either. You will also find that I am not like most people. A job is a job, it pays and that's the end of it. Being a bartender is not a life's passion for me but it'll do for now until I find what that is. I don't engage in conversation with most people and I find those that ask too many questions to be off-putting." I just looked at him blankly, kind of bored. On the inside I was dying to get away from him, not because he was scary or anything silly like that but because the situation was stirring up too many feelings. In the six years that have passed I barely spent longer than a minute with a vamp, which became a challenge once they "came out of the coffin".

"Why off-putting? That says that you have something to hide." He looked at me intently, obviously awaiting my witty reply. I scrunched my eyebrows together somewhat confused by the course that this conversation was starting to take. And I was becoming a little worrisome, did he read minds or something?

"Off-putting…. hmmm…. because I don't appreciate nosey people that stick their nose into everyone else's business by asking a bazillion questions. I simply am not the super talkative type that like to share my life story. I keep to myself for a reason. Doesn't necessarily mean that I have something to hide, just means that I am closed off. Why does it matter to you so fucking much anyway? Why the questions and looking at me like I am some kind of perp or something? Were you a cop/bad detective in your former life and everyone was the bad guy or the suspect?" I am started to get pissed off by this Vampire Bill . What is the deal with him? I glared at him, daring him to respond. I could tell by the look that formed on his face and the positioning of his body that he could tell I was getting mad and that I wasn't going to tolerate being pushed into anything.

"Could we step outside for a moment and continue this conversation with a little more privacy?" I followed his eyes as he started looking around the bar. I noticed that people were glancing over at us somewhat nervously, which I found troubling to understand because I didn't think that I had raised my voice at all during our conversation. Then it dawned on me that Bill isn't exactly super welcome here. The nervous looks that the patrons were passing between Bill and myself were that of anxiety and worry for me especially since Bill's body language wasn't casting him the best light, he looked ready to pounce. Now I knew why this bar had such a turn around and that Sam had trouble keeping employees. Some things have happened here, related or unrelated to Bill.

"Everything alright?" Sookie said as soon as she walked up to the two of us. She had a wide smile plastered on her face, but I read that as sign of her comfort level. She was uneasy. She placed her hand over Bill's in that reassuring way. I found it to be annoying and sighed. Rolling my eyes to Bill.

"Everything is just fine Sookie, Tristan and I are just going to step outside for a few moments to continue our conversation with a little privacy." He said with a soothing smile and patted her hand with his other hand. The he looked at me and nodded his head toward the door. He slid off the bar stool with more grace and ease than anything I have ever seen. Fucking vampires.

With a heavy sigh I made my way around the bar and headed to the front door, _the gentleman vampire_ held the door open for me. Side by side we walked to the far end of the front parking lot. I leaned up against a beat up late 80's model piece of shit car and looked at him in wait. All he did was stare back at me with a look upon his face that wasn't super clear but I took it as a look of him trying to figure something out. Somewhat how someone might look at a troubling puzzle.

"This was super smart on my part." I said dryly. The look on his face changed suddenly, it softened.

"Why? You don't feel as though you are in danger, do you? I wouldn't hurt you. I'm trying to figure you out." Said the vampire.

"Trying to figure me out? Why is there something about me to figure out? What is so suspicious of me? You know, I've moved around quite a bit and been to many places. I've never been treated this way before. Most people get the drift that I prefer to keep to myself and just let me be. But you are getting to the point of grilling me and pushing for something. Just come out with it, get to the point."

"What are you? You're not a vampire or a shifter or a were. I would be able to sense that. You smell human and come across as completely human…" I cut him off immediately.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! I'm not a fucking vampire or the others you said! I smell human? I come across as human? Are you demented or something?" I shouted at him incredulous and wide eyed. I must be dreaming, this can't be a serious line of questioning from a vampire, no less.

"I apologize. I apologize. Please stop shouting. I didn't mean to offend you by those statements. Last week when you met Sookie, she mentioned to me that she couldn't hear your thoughts and she found that odd. She can hear all human's thoughts, except yours. She can't read vampire's thoughts, she gets glimpses of a were's or a shifter's. I though that maybe you were here for her. I was trying to figure that out. I thought maybe Eric had sent you." He had a look upon his face that reminded me a of young boy trying to talk his way out of trouble. He seemed a little nervous, I had no idea as to why.

"Wow…. so there are such things as werewolves and shape shifters. Of course that's not too far fetched considering that vampires do exist." I said mainly to myself, saying it out loud at that moment made me feel a little better. I continued after a brief pause, "So, Sookie can hear people's thoughts, huh? That's not at all invasive. Just because she can't hear my thoughts doesn't mean that I am not human. You, the vampire, should be able to tell very easily that I am human. Fuck! This is such a strange conversation. Pinch me, this can't be real." I let out a loud sigh and looked at the ground trying to wrap my thoughts around this. I had a flash of thought, "And who the hell is Eric?" I stared at him with a very stern look on my face.

"Uh, I'm afraid I have said too much. I only said as much as I had because, well, I was worried that you might be after Sookie. Eric would be clever enough to send a human." He said that last part very softly to himself. "If you are indeed human, which I can see you are, why isn't Sookie able to hear your thoughts?" He was giving me the wide-eyed boy wonder look again.

"I have no idea, nor do I care. I find it very wrong that she even tried. You keep mentioning the name Eric, you better tell me who he is or I'll go about founding him out my own way. And in my own way, you should know, that your name might come up. Mr. Bill Compton."

"You really wouldn't want to go bothering Eric. Forget I mentioned the name. For your sake and mine, please let that one go. I apologize for offending you by my actions and the things I have said. I became a little worried after learning she can't hear your thoughts, we've had some troubles lately. People or I should say other creatures that go bump in the night have been after Sookie."

"Why?"

"Her…. ah…. gift." He had to think of a clever way to put it. I can't agree with the choice of word but I figured it would be losing argument if I even went there. At this point I felt a bit drained and didn't want this conversation to drag on any further. Plus I figured I better get back inside, we'd been out here a while and I am on the clock. Without saying a word I pulled myself off the car I was leaning against and headed back for the bar. I received a lot of looks and stares when I came walking through the door. Some looked surprised to see me again, surely they couldn't have thought that big bad Bill would've done away with me. I laughed to myself with that thought. The rest of the night went by rather smoothly. Bill never came back into the bar and Sookie of course had questions for me. I gave her just the facts, he was protecting her because I came across as suspicious that she can't hear my thoughts. She of course apologized profusely. It was down right annoying. Why should she apologize for the actions of someone else? I got the impression that she was just as over protective of Bill as he was of her, she desperately wanted him to be accepted. His "mainstreaming" wasn't going super smoothly I gathered. I did ask her about Eric, you can say that curiosity killed the cat. He was interesting to learn about, but nothing she told me about him surprised me. Don't know what Bill's issue with him is but Eric seems like any other vampire to me. Though Sookie did mention that Eric is the sheriff of area 5, whatever that means.

I got home around 3am and went straight to bed. My mind was swirling with all of the information I received during my first night on the job. Sure, Bill was handsome but he was with Sookie. Sookie can hear people's thoughts. Eric….. hmmmm…. not sure why I kept thinking of him. I eventually drifted off into sleep but the nightmares didn't subside even with all of the new happenings.

The week went by fairly smoothly. Sookie was the only person that tried to speak to me regularly, for some reason she thought that we were somewhat bonded considering some of the things I now know about her. The two nights Bill came into the bar he simply said hello and went on his merry way, sitting in Sookie's section waiting for her to get off work. I found the line cook, Lafayette to be very funny and entertaining but I didn't bother to really talk to him. I wasn't that interested, he just made the time pass by a little quicker at work. Sam had some wondering eyes but I really didn't mind, he was a decently looking guy and very sweet. But I knew he was sweet on Sookie, she seemed to be a hot commodity amongst the supernatural. Sookie let slip about Sam, I wasn't surprised for some reason but it did turn me off him a bit. I didn't want to go down that road again, not even a little. I heard Eric's name a few more times, never really spoken about in a good light. The mystery of him was wearing off and I was no longer super intrigued by him. He owned a vampire bar in Shreveport, about 45 minutes away from Bon Temps, called Fangtasia. That almost sparked my interest again, but there was no way I would willingly put myself in a room with that many vampires. I would probably have some sort of panic attack if I did.

It was a night off and I was hanging out on the couch watching some reruns of _Roseanne_, it must have been close to 7:30 when I heard the knock sound on my door. Which confused me because I had no idea that anyone had a clue where I lived. Of course it was possible that word could have gotten around this small town, I'm sure the gossip queens passed it around if someone found out by chance. I figured that everyone probably knew my address. The bigger surprise was when I opened the door, the brown eyed beauty was standing on my front porch.

"Bill, what are you doing here?" I asked, a bit puzzled by his presence.

"I need your help with something, ah, maybe with someone that you know." He spoke slowly and carefully. "May I come in? I cannot enter your home unless invited."

"I know that. I haven't been living under a rock the past couple of years. Come on in." I have to admit I am a bit relieved that he didn't seem to know any of my history with vampires, otherwise, he wouldn't have made that statement. I was curious as to the _someone that you know_ statement.

"Thank you." He slipped passed me and headed into the living room. He stood next to the couch and I motioned for him to sit and make himself comfortable. I sat in the sofa chair to the right of the couch, I figured it would be inappropriate to sit next to him on the couch. Don't want anyone, including myself, getting the wrong idea.

"So…. what is this about?" Psychologically I was sitting on the edge of my seat, but I didn't want to physically show that so I sat back with a calm and ease.

Before he told me anything about the reason for his visit, I received a long dissertation on the vampire hierarchy. Which was fascinating, I had no idea that they were that organized and that governed by their own doing. He finally got to reason of his visit.

"Do you know of a young woman by the name of Jenna Leal? She's in a bit of trouble." Said Bill the chief investigator of area 5.

"Blonde chick? Spunky? Likes to tell some fabulous tales?" He nodded with each question. "Interesting that you came to me about her. I don't know her all that well." I was trying to place her in my head and understand why I would be connected to her in any way.

"Well, she's being held at Fangtasia. She's committed a horrific crime against vampires and she will be punished for it. During questioning, Pam was going through Jenna's phone contacts and asking her one by one if she sold V to anyone in her contact list. One of the names in her contact list was yours. I must have had some sort of brief reaction splash across my face for an instant and well, Eric noticed. I explained about my surprise because I know that you aren't really social so it caught me off guard to hear your name."

"None of that sounds all that bad. I seriously didn't know her well. We worked together for a few months and I hardly talked to her. That was two or three years ago and she only had my number because she was trying to see about switching shifts at work. None of the contact information is correct anymore, obviously. So, why is this a big deal?" I asked, sounding a bit confused.

"It's a big deal because Eric has demanded your presence tomorrow night at Fangtasia. He wants to question you personally about Mrs. Leal. I'm afraid I must apologize, my defense of you has caused Eric to have quite some interest in you." Bill looked down at his feet and then slowly looked to meet my eyes. I am completely unaffected by this and I think he can tell that. I wonder if he can sense any of the anxiety I'm starting to feel about having to go to the vampire bar.

"Don't apologize. It's annoying. You may think of this _Eric_ as the head honcho or the big bad wolf but I do not. He wants to ask me some questions, then he can ask and I'll answer. I appreciate you coming to my defense and standing up for my character, I wont forget that. After knowing his reasons for being so interested in Sookie, I understand why he could possibly be interested in me. Tell him I'll see him tomorrow night. What time should I be there?"

"Midnight. I'll pick you up here at eleven." With that he stood up and headed towards the front door. I follow and stood in the doorway as he turned to face me on the porch. "Thank you for being understanding. This went much more smoothly than I thought. I wished you didn't have to be dragged into this mess." The sincere look in his eyes and the warm gentle smile on his face told me that he really meant it.

"I've been through some things in my life. I know you and many others have picked up on that. Things that have happened to me in my life have shaped me into the person that I am today. I keep to myself for those reasons, everything is broken and I am trying day by day to put the pieces back together. This meeting with Eric doesn't scare me or even worry me. Six years ago, all my dreams faded away. I'll never be the same because of it. I don't hold onto life or material things the same as other people do anymore." This outpouring had a knot forming in my throat and I could feel my eyes getting a little more moist. What surprised me even more was that I was telling this to a vampire, the last place I thought these words would fall.

He looked at me for a long time. Maybe he was waiting for me to let go and cry but it never happened. I searched his face for something, I saw a longing and I could tell that he wanted to comfort me but wasn't sure how or if he should. He took a few steps toward me, wrapped his arms around me and held me. Nothing more, nothing less. Twenty minutes later he turned and walked away into the night.


	2. Crown of Thorns

**2. Crown Of Thorns **

**"Talkin' to my altar, say life is what you make it and if you make it death, well, rest your soul away. It's a broken kinda feelin'… I wanna tell you that I love you. But does it really matter? I just can't stand to see you draggin' down again. This is my kind of love. It's the kind that moves on. It's the kind that leaves me alone."**

It's 10:30pm and Bill will be here soon, sitting on the edge of my bed I felt frozen. I felt like my brain had snapped and was just locked in on the repeat playing of the nightmare that occurred six years ago. I couldn't snap out of it, the visions of everything that had happened that night just played over and over like an endless spool of film. My eyes welled up with water and tears just started streaming down my face, that was the only reaction I had. Nothing else moved or even flinched, I couldn't even force myself to wiggle my little finger. I had no way to tell the amount of time I sat in this locked position, the soft knocking on the door snapped me completely out of this trance I was locked in. I sucked in air immediately and started breathing heavily, like I hadn't breathed at all during my mental lockdown. I poked my head out of the door of my bedroom and called to the person outside the front door.

"Bill, is that you?" I said breathlessly.

"Yes it is, are you about ready Tristan?"

"Come on in, I need a minute or two." With that I turned back into my room and went into the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror and took a deep long soothing breath. I heard the front door open and close, though Bill was so light on his feet that I did not hear him move about the house. I jumped when I looked back up into the mirror after wiping my face and saw his reflection looking at me curiously.

"Are you alright Tristan? Something doesn't seem right."

"Yeah, I'm ok. Wouldn't know how to explain it anyway. But everything is fine. I'm just about ready." I said confidently. Trying to psych myself up for this vampire bar, the claustrophobia was going to be suffocating tonight. I could already feel the walls moving in on me. No no don't think about it.

"Take your time. Do you want to talk about it, maybe…."

I cut him off, "Ready to go. And no I don't. Let's leave it at that." Without anymore words Bill followed me out the front door of my home and to his car. He unlocked and opened the door for me, waited for me to be seated and situated then closed the door. In a flash he was getting situated in his own seat on the driver's side of the car. We drove in complete silence to Shreveport. I found myself to be in a very strange state of mind, I was calm and completely unworried about Fangtasia. That is strange to me considering the past episode I had at the house before we left.

I looked up at the bar for the first time after getting out of the car. I smiled to myself and let out a slight chuckle. This is some kind of joke right? It was a dark looking place, there was literally no life around it. All other buildings that were surrounding were empty. There was a line of people waiting to get into the bar. They looked dressed up for Halloween, except they all dressed in a very similar costume. Anything that said creature of the night is a look these fangbangers were going for. There were a few people dressed in normal club attire. The women were wearing barely there clothes, a look that says _bite me._ Some college looking dudes, looking like they stepped from the pages of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. So original! I followed Bill up to the front of the crowd/line, there were quite a few groans by the desperate patrons waiting for their turn to get past the velvet rope. Standing next to Bill, we were before a woman, well, vampire. She had long straight blonde hair and a very unamused look on her face. She simply told Bill, in her dry voice that Eric was waiting in his office for us and that he knew the way. Once inside the bar/club, it was even more silly and ridiculous than I could have ever imagined. It looked like a tourist destination and vampires were the themed attraction. Dressed in blacks and dark colors, patent leather, leather, chains and other garb that made up the gothic attire were what a large majority were wearing. Vampires were dancing quick and with strange movements, they were being fawned over by the fangbangers and the curious. I never noticed that Bill had taken my hand as we made our way through the club, I was too caught up in the sights of this place. We started down a hallway but stopped at the first door on the right hand side. Bill did what I would call a coded knock and I heard a voice reply. It must have told us to come in. Bill turned the knob and pulled me in the office behind him and then shut the door.

I was taken aback by the sight behind the desk. He was marvelous! I have never seen anything in my crazy lifetime that held a candle to this man's beauty. He has piercing pale blue eyes, which have been locked on me since the very second I stepped foot in his office. His shoulder length golden blonde hair was loose and hung around his face in a glorious sort of way. His skin was near white and absolutely flawless, the features of his face and from what I could make of his figure behind the desk looked as though he was carved from granite or marble. Stunning! Never in my life has my breath caught in my throat at the sight of someone, but I couldn't help it, there was an Adonis sitting before me. He stared at me completely unaffected by my staring, even though it only lasted maybe thirty seconds. He motioned for us to take the seats before his desk. Bill pulled out a chair for me and I sat, he followed suit.

"Thank you for coming in on short notice. There is an important matter we must discuss." His voice was like a song in my ears, it was soft yet commanding, smooth and deep. He looked me right in the eye and then I followed his gaze to a black leather couch off to my right. There was a young woman around my age, blonde, that looked as though she'd gone a few rounds with these guys. Not a pleasant sight. Sad if he thought that would put any fear in me.

"It's been two to three years since I've seen this woman. Terrible coincidence that she would still have my name in her phone. We barely knew each other and you could barely call us acquaintances ." I said dryly. No matter what I wasn't going to be pushed or bullied around in a conversation, I don't care how gorgeous he is. The whole time I spoke I looked him in the eye to let him know, that I give respect where it is due. I expect it in return. I looked him in the eye and got right to the point to let him know that I meant business and I am not about to be intimidated. Plus, looking someone in the eye as you are talking to them is sign of honesty.

"I'm not concerned about your relationship with this woman. I didn't ask you here to talk about her. I am more interested in your relationship with Sookie Stackhouse." Eric looked over at Bill when he said this, Bill was letting a out huff of air and rolling his eyes. "You are dismissed Bill, you can wait outside for her." Bill looked at me with uncertainty and then back at Eric. Eric raised his brow and I placed a hand on Bill's shoulder and gave the slightest nudge to let him know it was ok. He stood up and walked out the door, shutting it behind him. I watched Bill leave the room, Eric kept his eyes on me the whole time. I looked at him for about a minute before speaking up.

"What relationship with Sookie? I have no relationship with her."

"No relationship with Jenna. No relationship with Sookie. Hmmmm…. do you have a relationship with Bill Compton?" His eyes twinkled, he was definitely thinking something cheeky. Probably an inside joke.

"No."

"With whom do you have relationship with then?" He said a little puzzled but also without any care whatsoever in his voice.

"Why is that relevant to why I am here? Why is that something you need to know?"

"It's aggravating that you answered my question with a question. You were told that you were being brought here so that I could question you personally. What is the problem?"

"No one."

"What's that?" He obviously didn't know what I meant.

"I was answering your question." I said flatly.

"You do not talk much, do you? Why is it that you do not have a relationship with anyone?"

"No, I do not. I do not have much to say to others. It is my choice not to have a relationship with anyone. People trap your mind. I've learned that letting people in your life sets you up to be let down. People will always let you down and they will fail you. I don't have faith in humanity anymore, I believe it is near death." I was uncomfortable with expressing that, I usually don't say those things out loud. Not because I am afraid of what people will think of me, that I do not care about, but because people usually want to analyze why I feel that way and then they start to believe as though they have a right to know about my trials and tribulations in life. I'm working on affecting my own change but it will not be a short lived process, I deal with the pain and emotional scars the only way I know how. One day at a time and one foot in front of the other.

"Pretty bold statement. You really don't care about others do you? You seem completely unaffected by the battered woman to your right. Do you even care for your own life?" He leaned forward slightly. I had him intrigued.

"I do care, in my own way. This situation is out of my hands." I said glancing at Jenna on the couch. She was slumped over now, laying on her side. I continued after a pause, "Death aught to be easy because life is hard enough. But death isn't that bad." I saw a look upon his face, it was a slightly devilish look.

"How would you know?" There was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. His expressionless face was starting to fail him. He couldn't help himself with his intrigue of me.

"I died once." I shifted my eyes to look past him. It's not that I couldn't look him in the eye with that sort of statement. I had a flash of memory from that moment in time six years ago.

"How?"

"Bled to death." I said still looking past him.

"What was the cause of your bleeding out?" His eyes looked almost like they were filled with blood lust.

"That is all I will say on the matter. I've said much more than I ever wanted to or should have."

"You live in Bon Temps, correct?" He couldn't serious, he had to know that answer.

"Duh." I said with a huff and an eye roll.

"Excuse me?" Eric had a stern look on his face. He would not be disrespected, of course he would command respect. He was old and a sheriff, which meant power in his world. I commanded it too although I was nothing in the power department, like he is.

With a snort, "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer." I stood from my chair and started for the door. I felt a cool gust of air and in the blink of an eye he was in front of me. I looked him up and down in wonderment, he was fantastic. He most likely stood at 6'4" tall and he had a solid lean muscle build. Simply amazing. He noticed me admiring him but I also wasn't trying to hide it. I didn't care.

"I did not excuse you to leave, Tristan." It was the first time he had said my name throughout our meeting, it was sheer delight to my ear drums.

"I didn't know I needed permission. May I leave? I believe our meeting is over." I was still slowly looking him up and down, taking all of him in. There was maybe three feet of space in between us and he took one step closer, closing the gap. There was maybe a foot of space separating us now. I took a deep breath and looked up at him, there was a slight grin on his face. Bastard! He knew he was having an affect on me. He had a faint scent of cologne but I wouldn't able to figure which one it was, it was just a delightful smell.

"Yes you may leave but I would like to see you again. I have more questions for you." He sad it softly and let it roll over me, if I am not mistaken I would say he was trying to seduce and lure me with this behavior.

"_If _we do end up meeting again, it is I who would have a few questions for you to answer." His eyebrows lifted slightly.

"What questions do you have for me?"

"How old are you? Where are you from, meaning when you were human? What was your life like? And lastly, why does Sookie Stackhouse hold such a strong interest from you?" He took a step back.

"Just over 1000 years as a vampire. I was a Viking, I am from Scandinavia. I'm surprised you didn't know those things about me beforehand. _When _we meet again and it will be soon, I might answer your other questions." He stepped aside and opened the door behind him. Bill was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Without any spoken words between us, I followed him out the front doors of the Fangtasia nightclub and to his car. We drove to my house in complete silence.

On the front porch, just as I was about to turn to unlock the door and head inside, Bill's hand lightly grabbed my arm, he had an intent yet sensitive look in his eyes. He wanted to talk to me about my conversation with Eric, that was an easy enough guess to venture. I couldn't believe he hadn't even tried until now to question me about what happened in that office. Suddenly an interesting thought had popped into my head, vampires had extraordinary hearing and Bill most likely heard everything that was said between Eric and myself. Though I wasn't 100% sure because he was out in the hall and had the club music to contend with. Who knows, he could have had his ear pressed tightly against the door. Bill didn't seem the type.

"I feel a little guilty, though I wont apologize because I know you find it displeasing but I overheard much of your conversation with Eric." His smooth southern voice finally spoke.

"I know you vamps have super hearing, so unless you were listening in on purpose you have nothing to feel guilty over or feel a need to apologize. Although the music was loud and distracting out there, I'm surprised you were able to hear much." I said in a matter of fact way to him.

He released my arm and looked down at his feet, slowly he raised his head and his troubled dark eyes met mine again. "I was listening in at first, in case Eric got out of line. Then I became intrigued. Why did you tell him so much, well, more than you've said to anyone else. Eric is not a good guy, he will use your weaknesses against you. Be very careful about letting him in. You've been in the company of vampires before haven't you? I've noticed that you never seem surprised or startled by our sudden movements or are never intimidated by our hard stares. I've seen you jump a little once and that's when I picked you up this evening, you were lost in whatever was going on in your head at the moment." He paused, my guess was to think of a way to word something else. I figured it would be smart to move this conversation inside.

"Come inside. We'll talk there." He followed me inside the house and I made a motion for him to sit on the couch and I again sat on the sofa chair. I immediately jumped in before he could continue to ramble on, "I felt as though I had to answer the questions. I don't know why I said much more to him than anyone else, if I had to guess, I would I say…. I'd rather the information he was seeking to come from me than from another source that doesn't really understand. Yes, I have been around vampires before. I am used to the way you guys move about. Though it has been some time sine I've spent an extended amount of time with a vamp and every now and then you will find I get caught a little off guard."

"Was a vampire the cause of your death six years ago?" He definitely was not dumb, a very perceptive vampire that Bill Compton.

"Yes." I uncomfortably shifted in my seat. I didn't like where this conversation was leading.

He stood up and headed for the door, I stood as well. I was a little surprised he was leaving it at that. That's quite the cliffhanger, it would keep me up all night in wonderment. Once he got to the door and opened it, he turn to me and moved a across the room and planted his lips upon my cheek. I didn't understand his gestures towards me but I was not about to complain. He turned and left without a word.

About a week and a half went by, I saw Bill twice and each time I saw him it was at Merlotte's and he had come to visit Sookie. Whenever we'd catch others sights, he always had a look of endearment in his eyes. I was uncomfortable with his presence because I felt he knew too much. I didn't like anyone, including a vamp, having a way in with me. I realized that Bill hadn't said anything to Sookie which I very much appreciated, the very next night after my interrogation Sookie bombarded me with questions as soon as I clocked in for work. I didn't tell her anything other than that it went smoothly and Eric doesn't seem as badass as he's made out to be. I scolded her for not warning me of the sight of Eric, her response to that was an annoying cocky little grin. So as payback, I informed her that he was seeking information on her and talked about his interest in her. _Touché Sookie._

It was a night off and I was hanging out in front of the TV, enjoying not having to be on my feet and watching some stupid pathetic _Lifetime _movie. It was of course, still warm outside and humid even at 9:41 at night. I was wearing some short cotton shorts and tank top to keep comfortable, the shorts were in a gun metal grey plaid color and the tank was just plain grey. A knock sounded on the door, I really didn't feel in the mood to chat with Bill but figured it was due for his curiosity to want to know more on the story. I walked to the door, opened it and peeked around to the sight that filled my wide eyes was the Adonis. He looked at me with a devilish sort of grin. I released the breath that I had been apparently holding when his musical voice spoke out to me.

"This isn't a bad time is it?" He made that question sound more cheeky than it should have. He tilted his head slightly as if trying to look around the door, most likely wondering why I was hiding behind it.

"Uh… no it's not. Why? What are you doing here?" I sounded a bit puzzled and he knew that he had caught me by surprise.

"I was hoping you would have stopped by the bar again since the last time we spoke so that we could finish our conversation. Since you did not and I thought you might not ever return, I took it upon myself to seek you out. Remember that I did ask to see you again?" He was grinning. I wasn't quite sure was he was getting out of this that was so amusing.

"Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. You're probably right, I most likely would not have come back to your bar. I found nothing appealing about it."

"May I come in. I cannot come in unless in…" I interrupted him.

With a sigh, "Yes, I know. Come in. Sit on the couch." He breezed passed me and was sitting on the couch by the time I had closed the door and turned around. His eyes were heavily scanning my body and he let out some kind of sound a very soft _mmmmm _sound. I was glad that I had grabbed the button up long sleeve flannel shirt that was hanging by the door and put it on before turning around. It limited some of his view, I didn't care about his wandering eyes or lustful look. I was only trying to keep him from seeing one thing in particular, a nasty scar on my shoulder. I walked somewhat slowly to the sofa chair, slowly because I'll admit that I was flattered by the gorgeous blonde vamp checking me out so thoroughly. I wasn't ashamed of my body in any way, I am 5'8" tall with a somewhat athletic build. I am lean and toned but not over muscled, I have curves in the right places and everything else was tight. My skin is somewhere in between the shades of champagne and honey, kissed by the sun. It is smooth and unmarked of any irregularities such as freckles or birthmarks, with the exception of the scar on my shoulder and the few tattoos on my back. I had a killer body and I knew that, many women are envious and many men lusted after me for it. I am not the type to flaunt it though, t-shirt and jeans and flip flops were my style.

I smiled at him, "Now I know what you are grinning about. Most men do try to hide that a little better. You know, be more subtle about it. The ogling." I was sitting in the chair with my legs crossed and he was looking at my bare feet.

"I'm not like _most men._ In fact I am not a man at all." He chuckled and finally met my eyes. "I don't care to be subtle if I see something I really want." The devilish grin was back.

I laughed a hearty laugh. "Anyway, moving on buster…. what more do you have to question me about?"

"Mood kill."

"Look, I know you have your way with most women you come across. I am not like most women. Did you honestly think you would just walk in here, give me a few lusty come hither looks and we'd be rolling around on the floor with our bodies intertwined? That's disappointing." I raised my eyebrows in wait of his response.

"Just taking a chance is all. I remember your reaction of me last time we met and your reaction of me now, my thought process isn't too far fetched. Besides, I may be a _dead man_ but I am still a _man._ What's disappointing is you covering up a lot of your top half with that flannel." We smiled lustily at each other. We both wanted each other but I never wanted to be that close to a vampire again.

"I thought you had a thing for Sookie? Are you going against that now simply because you think I might be something special on the account that she can't hear my thoughts?"

"My interest in Sookie is because of her ability, I find her useful. She's not hard on the eyes either." There was that cheeky grin again. "My interest in you is very different."

"How so?"

"I've noticed a difference between you and most other people when around vampires. You seem at ease and unaffected by us. You never seem taken off guard by our movements, looks, and you seem to have an uncanny amount of respect for our power. Why is that?" He had a look of intrigue, a look that said many things to me at that moment. He was putting a few things together in his head and he was coming close to figuring out about my death. I had no idea why he was so curious about that.

"I would think that that answer was obvious. Come on, be smarter than that." I said with a bit of a frown. Now who was the mood kill? The disappointment on my face must have been clear, somehow he was grinning slightly about that.

"What happened to your shoulder?" Whoa… he definitely surprised me with that one. He was putting pieces together in his head for sure, that much was obvious to me now. I didn't think that I had said that much to him but he was in a different ball game compared to most that I dealt with when it came to the twenty questions and _I wanna know your story._

"Wha… what are you t-talking about?" I managed to stammer out. I thought I had pulled my flannel on fast enough before he had had the chance to glance at the large gnarly bite mark of a scar that rested at the base of my neck, where my shoulder and neck met. _Ugh! Vampires…_

"The scar on your shoulder, I'm sure you must know the one I am referring to… since you took it upon yourself to cover it up as soon as I came inside your house." He let out a light chuckle and his stare was comparable to a cat watching a mouse struggle in it's claws. His eyes were literally twinkling. He waited a good five minutes before I gave an answer, though the look on his face never faltered.

"Angry puppy." It was the only clever thing I could figure to say at the moment. I definitely wasn't going to say anything other than that. I was becoming furious, I could feel the anger starting swirl under the surface of my skin. I glared at him and took a deep breath to try and calm myself, I wasn't ready to go toe to toe with a vamp. Especially with a vamp that is one thousand years strong and in his human life, was a goddamn Viking.

Feeling the heat under my skin, I stood up and said "Time for you to leave." I wasn't asking, I was demanding.

"Hmmm…." He let out a deep sigh and his brows furrowed together. "You humans are so touchy." He said with a cheeky grin and sound to his voice.

Eric stood from the couch and walked over to me at normal human speed but what happened next seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. He reached out to my right shoulder and pulled the collar of the flannel to the side to get a look at the scar. In some sort of self-defense type of maneuver; my right arm swung down on top of his forearm smashing it downward and I grabbed his wrist , twisting it somehow slightly behind his back and pushed his body forward as hard as I could. He landed face first into the wall that was three feet in front of him. He started laughing a soft sinister type of laugh and when he turned to face me, the look on his face was a mix of surprise and menace. My mind was racing because I knew what I had just done was a very bad thing and the fear I was feeling was completely taking over me. It was an intense feeling of horror that was washing over me and locking my body into place, I was frozen by the terrors of my past meeting with the terrors of my present. Eric looked enraged that I had just laid a hand on him and dared to be so bold, plus I don't think he appreciated being caught off guard the way that he was. His seething eyes saw the look on my face and the rigidness of my body, I was stunned that he had yet to react to my actions. I was ready for my throat to be ripped out.

His features smoothed out to a cold icy stare as he took a few steps toward me. I still was unable to move, locked in place and mentally preparing myself for death. _Again. _I closed my eyes and I felt his strong and cold hand on my neck, his grip was firm but wasn't crushing. His magical voice rang softly in the air.

"Tristan…" He said coolly. "Open your eyes." When I opened my eyes and looked into his steely stare he gave a small smile. I was certain he could feel me trembling slightly under his hand.

"I am not going to hurt you. I do need to make something very clear with you, I do not deal with humans much and I will not take kindly to being tossed around by one." The steely look in his eyes was softer now but I still couldn't help the overwhelm I was feeling and the fact that his long strong fingers were wrapped around my neck, even if it was for him just to get a point across.

I met his eyes once again and calmly said, "I rescind your invitation." His eyes opened wide as he stared at me with wonder and disbelief. Like a gravity he was pulled out of the house and was standing on my front porch. I walked to the door and shut it gently and for peace of mind I turned the deadbolt.

I went to my bedroom and sat on the end of the bed waiting for the terrors of past and present to subside. I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes, taking in deep breaths and slowly releasing them. It was about a half hour later and I was feeling more relaxed, I rose from the bed and headed straight for the medicine cabinet. Filling a cup with water that was sitting by the sink, I popped a couple of Advil into my mouth and swallowed with a gulp of water. I reached up with my left hand and rubbed my right shoulder gently, for some odd reason it was aching and there was a soft throbbing feeling. With my fingertips I traced the outline of some of the scar, it burned a little but the feeling quickly washed away along with the dull ache.


	3. The Beast Within

**3. The Beast Within**

**"Behold, I am coming soon."**

Work is incredibly slow tonight, hardly anyone has come into Merlotte's for either food or drink so far. I found it quite strange, I have the impression that most in this town like to swing by their only local bar to drink their sorrows away. This was a bad thing that the place was nearly empty, it meant Sookie didn't have enough to keep her occupied and out of my hair. I never mentioned that crazy night with the Viking Vampire that happened two months ago to her, well, why would I? Secretly I actually kind of liked her but I wasn't interested in being friends. She was entertaining and annoying at the same time. She never got much conversation out of me but it didn't keep her from asking questions and pouring out the trails and tribulations of her life to me. Maybe she appreciated that I never preached to her or told her my opinions, I think she simply liked having someone that would listen. There wasn't much else to do at work, especially nights like these. It also made the time pass by quicker. Bill had been out of town for a little over a month now for his "special project", so Sookie was more lonely than usual. She would talk about Eric a lot to me, seems he was more in her life whenever Bill was gone. He continually asked for her assistance for this or that and every time he saw her, he would make a move on her. She's an idiot, she complains about his advances but continues to be at his beckon and call. I was just glad that my name never came up between the two of them.

It was around 10:30 and Sookie was cleaning up a table or two that had recently been vacated in her section when the door breezed open. The cool gust of air had brought the attention of the few guests in the restaurant to the Adonis and his sidekick that were standing there as if they were expecting some sort of applause. The sidekick was the tall blonde haired vampire that was checking ID's at Fangtasia. From all of Sookie's ramblings I have come to know her as Pam. Sookie says that she is somewhat of a female version of Eric and that he is her daddy, sire, or maker; whatever you want to call it. She looked more like an upscale housewife, you know, one of those snobby bitches that always had her nose up in the air and looked at everyone else around her down her nose. She was dressed straight out of an Anne Taylor catalog, everything looked perfect, right down to her long straight hair and delicate make up. Pammy cakes was scanning the room at the tasty morsels, like she couldn't decide what flavor. When her eyes landed on me, the corner of her mouth tugged slightly upwards and her eyes had a slight twinkle of excitement. I just stared at her completely unamused, this was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

With a shift of my eyes to the left, Eric was looking at me and I was smiling slightly. It was awkward to be in the presence of one another, we both felt it but it wasn't necessarily a bad awkwardness. We both had a sense of delight in the struggle we presented the other. He wanted to know my secret and I enjoyed keeping it from him. The tidbits that he did know, they seemed to be somewhat compelling to him and I don't understand that. In my eyes my story is dark and haunting, not something I want to live through again by telling. It is aggravating that I find myself in this game with him, I understand where it comes from though. I am attracted to him and he's a vampire, that is something that's familiar to me sexually and romantically. I found out the hard way, the dangers to that kind of attraction. I never thought I'd ever be able to be cordial to a vampire again. It's still very difficult for me to be in the company of one, the scar on my shoulder always seems to throb in a dulling way. It is a subconscious thing of course but I do long to be free from my past. I guess I just never thought that my future could possibly include vampires. I guess that's how it goes. Freedom comes when you learn to let go, right?

"Ms. Nomak, pleasure to see you again." He spoke softly and I was barely able to hear him. His expression was blank and he just continued to look at me.

"How do you know my last name?" Though I could already guess that it was the bloodied and beaten looking blonde, Jenna, that was on his couch the first time I met him. Pam rolled her eyes and walked over to where Sookie was watching intently, they sat down at a booth and began chatting. Eric stepped closer to the bar and though his eyes brightened a bit, he did not smile.

"I've looked into you a bit. Seems we have something's we must discuss."

"We have nothing to _discuss._" I said flatly.

He leaned in closer and rested his hands on the bar, "I believe we do. If you would like to do it the easy way then I suggest you meet me at Fangtasia tomorrow night." His voice was low and cold, the look in his eyes was threatening.

"I am not going into Fangtasia. We can meet elsewhere, somewhere I feel safe." I took a step back, I was a little afraid. I got lucky once and pushed him aside, I really don't think that would _ever _happen again.

"Like your house? So you can throw me out again if the conversation takes a direction that you don't like?" He arched and eyebrow. Hard to believe that the big bad Viking was still a little sore about that, yet he just laid it out in front of me.

"I threw you out because I was frightened. I don't expect you to understand but you put your hand on me, you invaded my space and touched the most tender spot. I don't handle that well." I said low and sternly.

"Apparently." He chuckled softly and then got serious again. "I do understand, but I had to see what you are hiding behind. You need my help."

"I never asked for your help."

"But you need it. Consider yourself fortunate that I am giving it to you Ms. Nomak." He pushed himself away from the bar and walked to the booth Sookie and Pam were sitting at. My head was spinning, I had no idea what was going on and why I would need his help. It is clear that he knows what happened, but how? Why does he give a shit about me getting over it? My frustration was growing the more I thought about this and I was starting to feel a little hot under the collar. Why is he now referring to me as _Ms. Nomak? _His tone and demeanor has completely changed with me as well, very stern and serious. That nomadic feeling was starting to stir within me again, I was feeling claustrophobic and feeling like I need to get out. I guess it's true, you can't bury the past. It always comes back to get you.

Eric and Pam had left a half hour later, as they were headed out the door Eric looked at me and was about to say something but I turned my back to him. When I heard the door shut I turned back around and got back to what little business there was to attend to. Sookie approached the bar with a question mark on her face.

"Is there something going on between you and Eric?" She looked like a child trying to figure out a math problem.

"Why?"

"Well, I didn't think you two knew each other all that well. I know you talked to him at Fangtasia that one night a couple months back. It just seemed like you guys were having an intense talk tonight. He kept looking at you when he was at the booth with Pam and I."

"I don't know what to tell you Sook." I said with a sigh.

"I wish I could read your thoughts right now." She scratched head and looked at me curiously.

"I'd deck you if you invaded my privacy like that. Besides, you don't wanna see what's going on in here." I said touching my temple.

"Yes I do. You're such a mystery." It sounded almost like she was pleading with me, like all of the sudden I could just snap my fingers and then she'd have free roam of my brain.

"I prefer it that way. Thought you would've figured that out by now."

"Why do you suppose I can't read your thoughts?" Sookie was looking at me like I had all the answers, I wish.

I let out a huff of air, I was annoyed. "I think my brain is just on a different frequency to what you're tuned in to."

She thought about that for a moment. "I can't read vampires thoughts because, well, they're dead and don't have brainwaves. Supes an weres thoughts come across fragmented, hard to get a clear reading, sometimes I just get strong emotions."

"So…"

"You're dead." She said with a hearty laugh. She obviously just threw me in with the vamps. Nice Sookie, real nice.

"That's too easy." I said shaking my head in disappointment.

"I don't get it though. I can read every humans thoughts if I chose but I can't read yours."

"Two years ago I went to see a psychic, she couldn't get a reading on me either. She said that she couldn't get inside my head at all. It's not as though there are any walls up or that I block these sorts of energies somehow, She said it was like looking into… nothing."

"How is that possible though?" She looked confused but very interested in what my answer may be.

"Well… I died six years ago. I woke up in a hospital and a doctor informed me that I was rushed in the night before. I had a horrible wound on my shoulder and had lost a lot of blood. They started a transfusion immediately but my heart stopped and I was gone for about 2 minutes and 47 seconds before they were able to bring me back. All I can think is that I came back wrong somehow." I barely spoke in a whisper, I had no idea what compelled me to tell her that. Maybe I was hoping that in this moment she would tell me I was wrong, that I didn't come back wrong. She didn't say anything though. We just stared at each other for a few minutes before Sam interrupted us by asking Sookie to do something for him. I wiped the tears away and started cleaning up the bar.

I got home around 2:15 that morning. I sat on the couch in the dark and let the thoughts that were sitting on the edge fall in and swallow me completely. Everything past and present swirled around in my head and for the first time in nearly three years I saw his face. The grayish green eyes, chiseled jaw line and cheekbones, the wild chocolate colored hair that framed his beautiful face, his perfect supple lips, the smile that could melt the heart of any living creature, and the perfectly straight white teeth rounded out his features in a stunning way. Strange how a face so beautiful could turn so menacing when the fangs ran out. I felt that dull throbbing again at my shoulder and I slowly cried myself to sleep.

I had a strange dream that night, something I had never experienced before. It felt more real than any other. There were no images, just complete darkness and all that rang through my head were these slow spoken words, the voice was familiar but a faint memory.

_Prophecy_

_(from Revelation 1:3)  
__Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy  
__And blessed are those who hear  
And who keep what is written therein  
For the time is near_

_(from Revelation 1:7)  
__He is coming with the clouds  
And every eye will see him  
Everyone who pierced him  
And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him_

_(from Revelation 2:1-4)  
__Those of you who have not learned  
What some call the deep things of Satan  
I know your works  
I know your toil  
And your patient endurance  
And how you cannot hear evil men  
But have tested those who call themselves  
Apostles  
But are not  
And found them to be false  
I know you are enduring patiently  
And bearing out  
For my namesake  
And you have not grown weary  
But I have this against you  
That you have abandoned  
__The love you had_

_(from Revelation 2:9-10)  
__I know your tribulation and your poverty  
And the slander of those who say  
That they are Jews  
But they are not  
They are a synagogue of Satan  
Do not fear what you are about to suffer  
Behold the devil is about to throw you into prison_

_(from Revelation 13:1-10)  
__And I saw a beast rising out of the sea  
With ten horns and seven heads  
And a blasphemous name upon its head  
And the beast that I saw was like a leopard  
__Its feet were like a bear's  
And its mouth was like a lion's mouth  
And to it the dragon gave his power  
And his throne  
And great authority  
One of his heads had a mortal wound  
But it seemed to have a mortal wound  
That was healed  
And the whole earth followed the beast with wonder  
__Men worshipped the dragon  
For he had given his authority to the beast  
And they worshipped the beast saying"Who is like the beast and who can fight against the beast?"  
And the beast was given a mouth  
Uttering haughty and blasphemous words  
And it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months  
It opened its mouth to utter blasphemous  
__Words  
Against  
God  
It was allowed to make war on the saints  
And to conquer them  
And authority was given it over every tribe  
And a people and tongue and nation  
And all who dwell on earth could worship it  
In vainIf anyone has an ear let him hear  
If anyone is to be taken captive, into captivity he will go  
If anyone who slays with the sword, with the sword_

_(from Revelation 21:1-8)  
__ThenI saw a new heaven  
And a new earth  
And I heard a great voice from the throne saying"Behold the dwelling of God is with men  
He will dwell with them  
And they shall be his people  
And God himself will be with them  
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes  
And death shall be no more  
Neither shall there be mourning  
Nor crying  
Nor pain  
Anymore  
For these things will have passed away  
To the thirsty I will give water without price  
From the fountain of the water of life  
He who conquers shall have this heritage  
And I will be his God and he shall be my son  
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted  
__As for the murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters  
And all liars  
Their lot shall be in the lake  
That burns with fire [and brimstone]_

_(from Revelation 22:10-13)  
__And he said to me  
He said to me"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy  
For the time is near  
__Let the evildoers still do evil  
And the filthy still be filthy  
And the righteous still do right  
And the holy still be holy  
Behold  
I am coming soon  
I am the alpha  
And the omega  
The first  
And the last  
The beginning  
And the end"_

_Amen_

_What are you gonna do?_


	4. Into The Darkness

**4. Into the Darkness**

"**I'll stay on the freeway of the damned souls, I wish I never knew this. The address that you gave me was too overrated, I can't do this. Can you take it back? Can you make it go away? I did everything you said, it all just turned to black."**

The bright light of the day hurt my eyes when I finally awoke on the couch. Not caring that I was smearing and smudging my mascara, I rubbed my eyes; it felt so good. How is it that you wake up tired and exhausted? I sat up and glanced at the clock on the wall, I had been asleep for nearly twelve hours. I managed to pull myself up and walked out of the living room and down the hall to my bedroom, I went straight into the bathroom and turned the shower faucet on. When I had the temperature to the water just right, I stepped in. The hot water cascading down my body was the best medicine for the moment, the heat was easing some of the tension I was feeling in my shoulders. Leaning against the tiled shower wall I kept replaying the very last part of that freaky dream in my head, "What are you gonna do?". There was something so hauntingly familiar to the voice and the words. I knew this wasn't the first time I had heard this "prophecy". Though, this was the last thing I needed on my mind at the moment. I am supposed to see Eric tonight, we never truly clarified where to meet so, I'm not sure how this is going to happen. What the hell does he want anyway and why does he think I _need _his help? Ugh… this was all too much and too frustrating. I finished in the shower and got dressed and ready for, well, the rest of the day. I made myself a small meal that consisted of a chicken salad wrap and a glass of milk, I soon found myself back on the couch. This time I wasn't going to let the swarming thoughts in my head trap me down, instead I turned on the TV and began the search for anything interesting to watch. I settled in with "Interview With The Vampire", why couldn't more vamps be like Louis?

Hours later a sturdy knock sounded on my front door. Ugh, here we go! I stood from the couch and brushed out my jeans with my hands and tugged the bottom of my t-shirt to straighten it out. I walked to the door and took a deep breath before opening to see the man… vamp… I expected to see. There he was in all his glory, staring at me expressionless and sour. Though for a few seconds I got lost in the wonderment of watching his shoulder length blonde hair dance in the light breeze, the way the few stands touched his face and waved across his lips and cheek was nothing short of breathtaking. Hmmm…

Snapping out of my little daze, "Come on in, Mr. Northman." He furrowed his eyebrows together and stepped inside the house. He walked casually over to the couch and took a seat, still not saying a word, just watching me. I closed the door and took a few deep breaths before I went and sat in the sofa chair.

"Mr. Northman, huh?" He said with a slight lift of his eyebrow.

"Well, we no longer seem to be on a first name basis. What do you want? I was kind of in the middle of something." I said completely uninterested in having this conversation. I would be completely happy to just sit there and look at him all night.

"Call me Eric. You know why I am here, we have something to discuss. In the middle of something?" He let out a chuckle when he glanced over at the TV. "Watching a bad vampire movie doesn't count as being in the middle of something. What's so intriguing about watching the vamps on TV when you can be in the presence of one these days."

"Oooh that would be a good new little slogan for your trashy vamp bar or club or whatever the fuck it is. The point is, well… I wish more vampires were like Louis. I enjoy seeing them this way. There are enough Lestat's out there." I said looking away from him and to the TV.

"Someone is in a mood. Going to throw me against a wall again tonight?" He said raising his eyebrows and the smallest smile at the corner of his mouth.

I cocked an eyebrow up, "Nah, but I could throw you on the floor."

He chuckled and had a tooth bearing grin on his face but he shook his head, "Maybe later, though I am thinking that this is some kind of ploy to pull me off topic. Not going to work, Tristan." He smiled devilishly and had a sparkle in his eyes, finally he had some expression on his gorgeous face.

"What is it that I need your help with then? Maybe you should let me in on that little secret." I really was dreading this conversation but if it had to be done, let's rip this Band-Aid off quick.

"Jenna knew much more about you that you thought. She met your vampire, the one that killed you. That vampire hasn't been seen in nearly three years, Tristan."

"That doesn't sound like such a bad thing to me!" I said rather sharply and I reached for the collar of my shirt with my left hand and pulled it aside. "See this?" Pointing at it with my free hand. "Of course you have! This is what that mother fucker did to me. Why would I give a shit if he hasn't been seen in nearly three years?" I had a very strong tone to my voice, I wasn't yelling but I wasn't whispering either.

"Tristan, you would give a shit if you had anything to do with his disappearance." His eyes bore into me and his voice changed, it was almost hypnotic and was low. "I need you to tell me…"

"Glamouring wont work on me. So give it up." I said shaking my head in frustration. "Quit with the child's play and just come out and ask what you really wanna ask!" I said with a huff.

"Interesting… glamouring wont work. Why is that?" He said with a very intrigued look on his face.

"Focus Northman."

"Did you kill Luca Roth?" His face was stone and his eyes were cold as he stared at me waiting for an answer.

"Yes."

His eyes flashed briefly with anger but he settled himself before he spoke. "How?"

"I staked the fucker."

The flash of anger came again on his face but this time he extended me a warning. "Be careful how you speak of this to me. Remember I am a vampire and you are speaking of staking one of my kind. Then I am not just any vampire, I am a sheriff, I punish those who commit these types of crimes against vampires… severely." He was practically glaring at me. "How is it that you can over power a vampire? You've staked one and you threw me into a wall."

"The element of surprise. If you are gonna punish me, then get on with it. Let's not waste my time or yours with this inane questioning." At this point I couldn't even look at him anymore. I was lost in some world in my head, whatever it took to keep the pain from coming forth and exploding in this chair.

"I told you, more than once, that I am going to help you. I should be punishing you and I should be torturing you for these answers, but I am not. Consider this another favor I am extending your way. I understand what you did, in killing Luca. It was wrong though, you understand that right? If you had some sort of relationship with him then you should have known that we have laws and a certain structure in _our _world. The crime he committed against you was before vampire's _came out of the coffin_, there were no vampire laws protecting you then. You would've have simply been cast as a meal. If it had been known that you survived, you would've been finished off."

"Well then…" I let out a huff of irritation at his words. What a cold hearted bastard! Well, he is a vampire… I seem to keep forgetting that. "I staked him before you vampires had any sort of arrangement or treaty or whatever the fuck you wanna call it with us humans. You vamps live in my world, as in… the human world. What I did was before your whole 'crimes against vampires bullshit'. Oh, umm… genius… if I had some sort of relationship with him before you vampires came out of the coffin, how the fuck was I supposed to know about your structure and your laws? Luca and I didn't have a relationship. I saw him for what he was and he took notice of that, he tried befriending me and he tried romancing me. We knew each other barely a month, he was hurt real bad and I tried to help him and that's when he attacked me. Savagely." I looked up to the ceiling and closed my eyes, the tears dropped down the sides of my face.

"Tristan…" He spoke softly yet loud enough to get my attention and for me to look at him. I wiped the tears from my face and he looked at me curiously, obviously tears were a very strange concept to him. I sniffled a little and then looked at him, I could only imagine the sight before his eyes… the broken weepy girl. Pathetic.

"Have you ever felt as though you were trapped in a snow bank and if you moved one inch in either direction, it was all going to come crashing down on you and bury you alive?" I was looking at the floor when I asked this, I wasn't sure if I was actually asking him this question or just making some sort of statement in my own broken way. I wasn't even sure how audible my voice was, at least vamps had super hearing.

"Look at me." When I looked up to meet his gaze he had a stoic look on his face. "If you killed him, then why are you so afraid of your past. You received your vengence."

"The physical pain may fade but the emotional pain remains the same. I still remember the fear that I felt. I still remember the darkness moving in on me, as my life was fading away. I remember where I went when I died." His eyes widened and the look of surprise on his face was unmistakable . Never in a million years would he have thought that those words would have come out of my mouth. "I can't even begin to describe the feeling of waking up in that hospital bed and being back here after where I had been." My eyes were like faucets at this point and my body started to shake a little but now I was determined to let Northman know.

"I… I…" He stammered.

"You want to know about Luca? Fine. He made me feel different than anyone else in the world had. He actually seemed to care about who I was as a person and had an interest in getting to know me more deeply. He paid attention to me in ways that men never really had before in my life. Sure, men looked at me as a sexual object but nothing more. But that was my fault. With Luca I felt desired, I felt wanted, I felt…. loved. Considering the life I had, it was incredible to feel any of those things for the first time. The horrors of my life could be legendary, what I have lived through… anyway… I went to see him one night and he was hurt real bad. He looked as though he had been beaten and he was wrapped in silver chains… I unwrapped him from the silver chains and he was weak, very weak. Somehow, despite his state, he pounced on me and wrapped himself around me and gripped me as if he were an anaconda and bit down viciously at the base of my neck. When I struggled a bit he only bit down harder and deeper, I literally felt the life being pulled from me. I could feel him getting stronger as I was getting weaker, it was like an exchange, then he dropped me and ran. I don't know who found me or how. I remember waking up in a crisp white room with machines beeping and bustling sounds from the hall." My head was in my hands at this point, I felt somewhat like a spaghetti noodle.

I was surprised at the soft tone to Eric's voice when he spoke. "You don't know why he came into your life and romanced you and got close to you? Closer to you than anyone else ever had. You don't know why he left you for dead?" I looked up into his eyes, I scanned his face taking in every detail, from the lashes that dusted his cheekbones to the curves of his lips, he allowed me to look him over and waited patiently for me to summon the courage within myself to say the answer out loud.

"Yes I do… now. At the time I didn't, I was swept away. Silly and pathetic, I know but I fell for him even if it was just a months time that we had known each other. He said all the right things and did all the right things and for someone that wasn't used to kindness being bestowed upon them, I really fell hard into that black hole of love. He left me for dead to keep his secret alive. He was a vampire, a creature of the night and the rest of the world at the time had no idea you guys truly existed. I wasn't supposed to survive that night, I shouldn't have. In many ways I didn't. He told me that he also did it for my benefit, because others would seek me out."

"I've been out of touch with humanity and humans for sometime now, but I don't consider it silly… what you felt. Even though I don't understand such things anymore, I get what it means to you humans. Why would your death be a benefit to you?"

"That has nothing to do with what you are seeking from me. I told you about Luca. Why is it that you said I would need your help in regards to what I did? Am I in trouble?" I said not really caring what the answer would be.

"Yes, The Jury is coming. You could use someone of my power and status in your corner." He said very seriously, he lowered his head and cut his eyes up to me and gave me a strong look..

I raised my eyebrows and probably had a fairly perplexed look plastered on my face. "The Jury? Who and what are they? Sounds kind of daunting."

"The are a powerful sect in the vampire community. Believe it or not they worship demons. Not the demons of Christianity lore, the demons that don't even exist on this plane. These demons that I speak of are those of which the demons of Christianity and religion are based off of. They are in a different dimension and are considerably powerful. The Jury worships them as Gods. They are a fairly powerful faction, Luca was a member of that group. They aren't going to take kindly to him having been staked."

I wasn't sure what to say, it sounded so silly to me. As I mulled the information over some things started to ring in my head, many things started to make some sense. Then again at the same time I was very confused. Eric was just watching me, taking in every detail of me it seemed as I am sure the different emotions played on my face. When I chuckled I saw his eyes flicker, I am sure he would like to know what I found amusing about this. He was taking this serious but I apparently wasn't.

"What is with the giggle? Don't believe me?" His eyebrows were furrowed slightly and one of them arched just a little in question.

"It wasn't a giggle, it was a chuckle. And yes there is a difference. I believe you, some of it makes perfect sense but I am baffled by it all. If this fucking faction even had the slightest clue what they were getting themselves in to… what they were _truly _dealing with." When I looked up from the floor to meet Eric's eyes, I knew that there was a cold dark look upon my face. My eyes must have looked like deep pools of black. He had no expression on his face but I knew he was thinking very hard, many things rolling around in that brain of his. I said more than I wanted to but I wasn't exactly thinking clearly and I was so over whelmed at this point in time that I couldn't control my outpouring as much I would have liked.

Suddenly there was a sparkle that flickered in his eyes and he spoke very coyly. "You have quite the tale to tell, don't you?"

"A tale sounds too chipper… like there's a happy ending or something. My life has been a nightmare. But that is not why you are here, to hear the horrors of my life. Let's be honest, as you have said… you have been out of touch with humanity for some time and I get the impression that you don't really care for humans at all. I really don't understand why you want to help me out with The Jury, especially knowing that I staked one of your kind but lets just stick to that. I am not interested in entertaining your curiosities on my life but maybe you can settle on one thing. You know more about me than most. Consider yourself lucky." My head hurt so bad and I felt a little faint. I was so exhausted from this conversation and I was going on wave after wave of emotion. I wasn't sure I was even making a whole lot of sense. I looked at him and he seemed displeased. What else is new? I had a feeling he knew more about me than he was leading on but maybe he was just figuring things out and piecing things together

"Since you are on a wave of emotion right now, I will let your disrespect slide…. just this once." His voice was steady and smooth, he really meant it. The anger bubbling just under his skin was showing well on his face and it was very clear that if I continued to step out of line with him I would pay for it.

"Look… maybe it's a good idea that we end this conversation for the night. I don't want to say anymore to tick you off and I'm not in the best state of mind considering our topic of discussion. I can't be sure at this point that I can keep my smartass mouth in check."

He stood from the sofa somewhat reluctantly, that surprised me a little. For a vampire that seemed to not like humans so much doesn't seem to want to leave. His eyes were scanning around the living room of my house, not really for my decorating tastes but he looked as though he was trying to find the right words to say. Maybe he was just mulling over the information he gained this night. I can't lie and say it wasn't pleasant to hear his voice again when he finally spoke after the few minutes of silence between us.

"Allow me one more question before I leave."

"Sure."

"Why do you think Sookie Stackhouse cannot read your thoughts?" He looked down at me with a thoughtful look upon his perfect face.

"Maybe since I have died, when I came back my brain operates on a different frequency than the average person. More simply… maybe I just came back… wrong. Somehow." I shrugged my shoulders and then stood up before I looked at him. There were some intense thoughts going on behind those pale blue eyes of his. He sighed slightly and headed towards the door, he was so graceful and moved so smoothly that he barely made a sound. He moved at normal speed rather than vamp speed. He opened the door and turned to look at me one more time.

"You'll let me know about The Jury, right? Or should I be expecting them to show up here sometime?" I'm not sure why but I had a little smile on my face. He cocked his head to the side and stared at my lips for a moment.

"I'll see you soon." He turned and glided out of the house and was gone in the pitch black of the night. After turning the deadbolt on the door I sat back down on the sofa chair and thought about 'the jury' and what possible outcome there would be after a meeting with them. I had exacted my vengeance from the vamp that had done me harm, are they looking to do the same? The only problem is that now I do not want to die, I can't go back to the place I was. I stopped my thoughts right there, I wanted to actually get some decent sleep tonight.

When my head hit the pillow I fell asleep fairly quickly but it wasn't a dreamless sleep. The same dream I had the other night, with the same voice and the same darkness surrounding it. When I awoke late morning the next day I realized that this wasn't a dream, it was a memory. I just wish I could pinpoint whom the voice belonged to and the significance of this prophecy being spoken to me. Seems like such a distant memory, maybe something that has been blocked out from my past. Something I wont let myself remember or that it's just been so long that I cannot recall this. I shake my head clear of the thoughts for the time being and force myself to lazily make lunch and then get ready for work. Oh joy… work. At least Sookie is off tonight so I wont have to deal with her. She's actually kind of growing on me, but there have been too many probing questions as of late and I could use the night to just be mindless and not think of these things. After spending the day being lazy, I got a few things done around the house and managed to get ready for work and still be slightly ahead of schedule. Which is good, I hate to be late. It's always been a pet peeve of mine. If there is anything that could be said about me it would be, Tristan… always on time.

I went out the backdoor of the house and headed to the garage, sliding the door open I smiled a huge gratifying smile to myself. There it was, my _freedom_… a gun metal grey '67 mustang fastback. Over the years I had added a lot of upgrades to it and I truly love this car. It's always been there for me when I needed it and loved life on the road with me. I don't know huge amounts about cars but what this car represents and gives me is simply… priceless. It was a piece of junk when I bought it at sixteen and with every spare dime I've ever had in my life I've poured it into this beast. It gave me what I needed in return, an escape. I get that it's very sad to say that the only constant in my life is a car but it is what it is. I opened the door and got inside, slid the key into the ignition and it roared to life. It was a loud car and I loved the sound and the way it idled at stoplights and such, just humming and vibrating waiting on me to hit the gas pedal. I backed out of the garage and headed to work. I love the looks that I get when people see this car and the great thing about it is that you hear it before you see it, when the car finally rolls into view… you can't help but stop and stare in wonder.

Work went by without a hitch, no one tried to chat with me or get to the bottom of my issues. I sometimes wonder why people care so much. I don't really talk to anyone unless I have to and I'm not exactly nice about it when I do speak. It's for a purpose, I don't want anyone in my business and I'm not looking for anyone to connect with. I've been done with people since day one. When you've seen and been through the things I have, then you might feel the same way. Who knows. Since work was fairly slow tonight, Sam let me leave early. When I was sitting inside _freedom_ a familiar feeling came over me, so I put my baby into gear and just started driving. To where? It didn't matter. I had the windows down and the wind blowing in my face and just enjoyed the ride. I had to stop in Shreveport for gas, she may be my baby but she is a gas guzzler. Hours later I found myself in New Orleans, I stopped at a restaurant for breakfast but was back on the road an hour later. I had no direction but once I hit Georgia, I found myself headed north. I got as far as North Carolina before I turned around and headed back to Bon Temps. All in all I was gone for about four days, it felt good and I needed that little escape. I laughed when I thought of the issues waiting for me when I returned home. I probably no longer had a job, since I was AWOL and all. Who knows if Eric had come by or not or if The Jury had made it to town.

At this point… I was ready to bring the world to it's knees.


	5. Hurricane

**5. Hurricane**

"**No matter how many deaths that I die I will never forget. No matter how many lies that I live I will never regret. There is a fire inside of this heart in a riot about to explode into flames. Where is your god? Do you really want me dead or alive to torture for my sins?"**

I had been home for about a week since my four day little trek into nowhere. Sam was of course angry with me but there was also a worry there. The very next day after I got back I went to Merlotte's to talk to him, you know… see if I still had a job or whatnot. I really didn't care either way nor did I expect anything. Sam yelled at me, he was frustrated but he also expressed his concern. In the end he informed me that I still had a job and mentioned that it was only due to the fact that he needed the help. I received a lecture on how I need to be dependable and all that junk. The whole time I was in Sam's office, the only thing that I tuned in to him saying was that I still had a job. The rest meant absolutely nothing to me. I simply looked at the floor the whole time and didn't say a word, which frustrated him more. Of course he thought it was being sensitive and submissive… I am nothing like Sookie or the others that would probably cry for being scolded. I know I scared him when I finally looked him in the face. I stared right into his eyes as I stood from leaning on his desk. I got very close to him and just gave him the black empty look that was in my eyes. Without a word I left and came to work each time I was scheduled in the past week.

I was even more quiet than usual lately and everyone took notice. They kept their distance. See, people can be observant and smart when needed. The change in my demeanor even scared Sookie off, whom usually ignored it and talked my ears off anyway. The first day back at work she had tried talking to me and asked me a million questions as to where I had been and what was going on with me. She received the same look that I had given Sam and she hasn't bothered me since. Even though she stayed away she did go to surprising lengths to reach out to me. A couple of nights ago, Bill came into the bar/restaurant and tried talking to me. He was back in town apparently and he was back to taking care of his woman. I was told that he didn't like my level of disrespect towards her but he quickly took back that statement when I uttered a simple _shut the fuck up _statement. He tried asking me what was going on and then telling me that he might be in a position to help. I gave him _the look_ and he took a step back and cocked his head to the side. He turned and started walking away… pulling a cell phone out of his pocket. Who ya gonna call, Bill?

So, basically, I wasn't surprised in the slightest when I answered the knock that sounded on my door just now to find Eric Northman standing there. Without waiting for me to say anything he walked straight into the house. I shut the door and turned around, he was standing with his back to me and had a hand running through his utterly beautiful golden locks. I cleared my throat and he turned around, he looked at me hard. He studied every inch of me and bore his gaze into my eyes. He let out a sigh before speaking to me.

"Bill was right." He said simply. He said it that way to actually bait me into talking. I knew this. I looked down at the floor and moved my left hand up to rub the scar on my shoulder. I could feel his eyes watching me. I knew my scar could be seen just fine since I was wearing a tank top. I didn't care.

"About?"

He smirked like he had made some great achievement. The look in his eyes did not match the smirk on his lips. His eyes spoke of worry. That made me smirk. When his voice rang out again, it danced into my ear drums. No matter my mood, it was always pleasant to hear the beautiful sounds that came from Eric's mouth.

"Bill said you had the blackest eyes he had ever seen. The devil's eyes." The smirk was gone from his lips now. I just laughed, heartily.

"Really? The devil's eyes? The blackest eyes he's ever seen?" I said mockingly. "You damn vamps are _so _fuckin' dramatic."

A grumble came from his chest, it was a groan of frustration. Even though he was strangely acting wearily of me he still couldn't stand being talked to in this sort of manner. Too bad for him that I really didn't give a shit.

"Tristan…"

"So… what? Did you come hear to check up on me or something?" I furrowed my brows together as I looked at him. He let out a chuckle and shook his head in a manner that said _yeah right!_

"You left town after we spoke last and were gone for a few days. I thought you went on the run again. I was going to come after you but I gave it some time. I found it pathetic that you were running once again. I may not know your story but I have a feeling you've been running for a long time now. Time to stop." His voice was low and steady and the last part was very commanding. He was right in front of me when he said the last line and looking down upon me very sternly.

I moved away from him and walked around him. Her turned to follow me with his gaze as I moved towards the entry way to the kitchen. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned my shoulder against the frame. I had a look of disgust on my face.

"Just who the fuck are you to tell me what to do? If I was running from anything, why did I come back? You know, you're a real fuckin' genius." I was pissed off. I let him sort of get away with talking down to me before but I really am not in the mood now. He wanted to lunge forward and grab me violently by the throat. I saw him physically hold himself back. Smart choice.

"Maybe you came back because you had an epiphany that it was time to stop running. So it seems as though my holding off on coming after you was right." His voice was menacing. At this moment I found it pleasurable. Before, I was afraid of him, especially when he looked and talked this way. Things were different now… there is something very dark inside of me that has awakened. I knew I couldn't keep it dormant forever.

"I came back for that reason, you were right." With hearing me say that he relaxed but his eyes still expressed frustration. "I don't understand why you have offered to help me. Why? Why did you want to come after me when I left those few days? Why are you hear now, after Bill told you something is wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you." His voice was soothing but his eyes still spoke of his frustration. "You have been through a lot."

"You are so wrong." I chuckled and looked at the floor. "There is something wrong with me. There has been my entire life." I looked back up to meet his eyes, I couldn't read his expression. "You never answered my questions, please dodge them no longer."

"Sometimes you speak in strange cadences. You mix modern day English with an old world English. It's very strange." His eyes moved away from my gaze for a moment and looked around the living room. I let out a long slow sigh, I was growing agitated again. Lucky for him he continued. "The first night we met a few months ago, you intrigued me. The things you said that night intrigued me even more. Through my interrogation with Jenna, she spoke of you when I asked. She told me the very little that she knew about you personally but she also told me that she had met the vampire, Luca, that had attacked you years before. She obviously didn't know of the attack but she told me that Luca was watching you. Luca didn't tell her much, just spoke of how important you are. That of course I found extremely interesting, usually vampires don't think of humans as much more than cattle. At least at the time Luca had met you, things have changed since The Great Revelation. The Jury had informed the Queen that they would be passing through my area and the Queen passed that information down to me. She told me that they were seeking out a human girl in my area to answer some questions about the disappearance of one of their members." He paused for a couple of minutes and looked at me. I assumed it was to make sure that I was even paying attention to him, since I was looking at the floor again.

"I'm listening… " Was all I said and never looked up at him in the process. He continued.

"I hate The Jury, I really cannot stand them. They are very arrogant and pompous. They think they are above the laws in _our_ world because their belief system is different. They do oblige and pay the common respects, such as informing the Queen of their presence, so that they do not create problems. After doing some digging around on information of Luca, I became quite concerned. At first it was simply because no one was going to come into my area and throw out any kind of punishment, especially vamps that were lesser than myself. I went to speak with Sookie at Merlotte's, I was surprised to see you there. I offered my help then because there is a lot about you that I would like to know and I wasn't about to let The Jury take care of you before I had the chance. The night I came to speak to you at your house, you filled in a lot of holes for me but then you also made way for many more questions. It went against my nature but I felt sympathetic for you. Even though you left the statement open-ended about where you went after you died, it became clear to me where that place was. It was obvious that it was the dark not the light." He stopped again and walked over to the couch and sat down. He placed his head in his hands and rubbed his face for a moment before looking at me. Feeling his gaze, I looked up from the floor and walked over to the sofa chair and sat down. Finally looking into his eyes, I saw conflict and despair.

"I'm still in the dark." I breathed real deep and looked down at his hands that were in his lap. "I was born from the dark." I took another deep breath. "I think I came back wrong."

His hands gripped each other tightly, I didn't understand what was going on with him. He seemed as though he was going through so much turmoil at the moment, I wish I could understand his conflict.

"What do you mean, Tristan?"

"Finish first and I will tell you. I've never heard you speak so much at one time." I chuckled at that and so did he. I surprised myself with the next statement. "I enjoy hearing the sound of your voice, no matter the tone."

He had relaxed a little bit with the chuckle moments ago and here was the turmoil and inner conflict that came crashing back upon him. He was now looking a little distraught. Though it only took him a moment to collect himself before he continued.

"I've never really had much compassion or interest in humans beyond what they could do to service me. At the moment that I had made the realization as to where you had been, I found myself slightly in awe of you. I knew then that you were a fighter and that you battled hard for a place in this world. I found it commendable, so many humans are pathetic the way they constantly bemoan their lot in life. I still have yet to hear you complain about your struggles. I appreciate the fight that's within you. It was at that point that everything truly changed, my reasons for helping you with The Jury are no longer tied to the fact that I am curious over you and it's no longer over my selfish power struggle with that damn group. You awakened something in me that I haven't felt for many years, respect for a human. Plus, the sexual tension between us is palpable. I do not feel it now and I don't like having feelings but you are bringing it out in me. The Viking in me wants to save the damsel in distress and then ravage you as my reward. The vampire in me is much more complicated and calculated than that though. It puts me in quite the conflict with myself." He looked away from me, possibly feeling a little uncomfortable that he shared that he could have feelings for me in the future. I've known from the moment we first met that he wanted me sexually and now he might want more. He barely knew me but he already appreciated me more deeply than any other man had. I couldn't deny that I had growing feeling for him as well but there was so much other stuff going on within me that it wasn't something I paid a whole lot of attention to.

"I went to your house and waited for you to get off work but you never came home that night, I got very worried that The Jury might have gotten a hold of you. I was able to trace your sent down to New Orleans and left you alone once I realized that there was no one with you. I understood that you might need space considering our talk the night before but when you didn't come back I became frustrated at the thought that you might be running. I would have come after you eventually. I knew you had come back to town, since I visited your house every night to check if you had returned. I was pleased to see the lights on in your home and to see you roaming around. I didn't want to bother you right away and I had no new information. I became very curious when I received the call from Bill, he has a tendency to be dramatic so I went to see him before I came here. He seemed a bit nervous about you and that was enough to cause a bit of concern with me. Vampires don't get nervous easily. Have I satisfied your questions of me?" He looked at me and I met his eyes, I nodded at him to let him know I heard enough. I was still mulling everything over, I wasn't expecting him to say so much. He always seemed like a man of few words. His pale blue eyes were searing into mine, we stared at each other for a few minutes before I broke the contact. There was an intensity in his eyes but I couldn't tell in what way.

I shifted in the sofa chair and ran a hand through my hair before flicking it over my shoulder. He of course watched and his eyes roamed over me and then stopped at the scar on my shoulder. I knew he was going to be asking me to give him some answers now, so I beat him to the punch… though I had no idea what to say.

"My mother was deeply religious, a devout Catholic. My father wasn't as deep into it as my mother was but he was still a religious man. My mother complained to anyone that would listen what a tough child I was. I cried when certain people would hold me, the levels of distress and crying depended on the person holding me. Anytime my parents took me to church, I cried the whole time I was there. Every time I got upset that way my mother said that my skin would get hot and I thrashed around as much as a baby could. Some people I was absolutely fine with. Of course this behavior had my parents worried and they took me to doctors, priests, and psychiatrists… nothing helped of course. I went through multiple baptisms and a range of medical tests as a baby. Once I got to an age where I was walking around, things started to dissipate and my _symptoms_ relaxed. What was going on in my head was completely different… I… I was afraid to go to sleep because of the things I would see. I would scream bloody murder in the dark, the darkness terrified me. So the medical tests continued and the priest always paid special attention to me. Of course as a child I understood nothing that was going on with me. I was scared all the time and in pain. I was either 11 or 12 when I started seeing things… bad things. I could see some beings _true _faces. I was quickly able to distinguish a difference… some looked angelic and others looked demonic. I was seeing Angels and Demons, I had no idea why though and I could sense things from regular people. It was like I could sense their levels of humanity." I looked up from the floor and looked in his eyes, he looked flabbergasted. "If I had just seen you on the street some night, I would've known you were a vampire."

"That must have been hard to handle at that age. Especially since the troubles you had already faced at your young age." He took a deep long unneeded breath as he looked at me.

"Things got much worse. I was terrified by what I was seeing and what I knew about people. I told my parents and my mother immediately hauled me off to church. I had numerous exorcisms performed on me and I was admitted to some catholic psychiatric hospital. More exorcisms and electric shock therapy took place there… I was a drug induced zombie. Sometimes I was drugged so heavily that I was in a catatonic state and _special _priests would come visit me. They would chant over me and pour_ healing elixirs _down my throat and slice me open on my arms or legs with a _special _knife. Some times they put medicines or herbs in the cuts and other times they would collect my blood and mix things into it and make me drink. One of the things that always made things worse was that I healed fairly quickly, too quickly to be normal. I never had any scars to indicate anything that happened. When I became angry I literally became uncontrollable, no orderly or nurse could hold me down. Hence my usual catatonic state. They usually had to inject me with some kind of tranquilizer when I was upset. I was fifteen when I broke out." I got up and went into the kitchen, grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water at the sink. When I came back into the living room Eric had his head in his hands, he looked up at me as I was sitting down in the chair.

"How did you get out of there?" He spoke very softly and I barely heard him, he leaned back against the couch and put his feet on the coffee table in front of him. I still was amazed at how tall this man was, his beautiful form spread out on my couch. He closed his eyes as he waited for me to continue talking.

"I was in a rage and I jumped through a window, my body smacked against the pavement very hard after falling three stories. I should have died on impact but I pulled myself to my feet and painfully limped and ran away. It took a few months but I stole what I needed and hitched my way across the country. I was nineteen when I met Luca, he thought I was attractive and tried to pick me up. I wasn't interested and when he pressed me about it I stupidly told him that I wasn't interested in dating one of the damned. That of course spawned his interest in me. He pursued me heavily and what can I say, it worked. Our little affair lasted a little over a month and the night came where it all ended. I remember when he rolled off of me after practically draining me, he roared a deep roar that came from his chest and he healed a lot more quickly than he should have. He rolled around in pleasure on the ground and spoke up to the sky that my blood was like fire in his veins. Then he ran away and I was left in a pool of blood and felt my life fading away from me very quickly. I don't remember being rushed to the hospital but I remember when I fell into the darkness and what I saw, felt, and experienced…." I swallowed very hard and grabbed for my glass and chugged the water down.

"Nearly three minutes felt like nearly three hundred years where I was. There was no sense of time. Then I remember waking up in the hospital bed, I left as soon as I could. Everything that happened that night and the years before have been tormenting me for the last six years and have kept me running but something is very different now. When I came back things had changed, I couldn't see what I saw before and I couldn't sense the humanity anymore. Strangely the dark _thing_ I had felt within myself before that night was stronger despite the _abilities_ being gone. It is even stronger now… the beast within is working it's way out. On my drive home and the dark place that I have been in since I got back has been because of this. I wanna bring the world to it's knees…."

Eric's eyes looked to be in a very far off place, he was holding back his reaction to my words. He pulled his feet off the coffee table and sat up on the edge of his seat. He had a very heavy look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak but then shut it and was lost in deep thought for a while.

"This is why I've never wanted to tell anyone my story…" I said simply. I wasn't sure what reaction I was expecting to get from him but at this point…. anything would be fine. The silence was freaking me out just a bit, after what I just said I felt vulnerable. Like I had put myself out there and I'm afraid of the rejection that could be coming upon me.

"I'm glad you told me. When the time comes that we meet with the Jury, do not tell them anything about your past. I know exactly where they will take that and we might want to take some precautionary measures."

"What do you mean?"

"Tristan… you do smell a little different. Definitely human but there is something about your scent that sets you apart. Much like Sookie's but then again not the same."

This sounded silly to me and I let it be known by my actions. I chuckled to myself. "You can't be serious! I don't smell entirely human? Or I guess a smell human but…. I don't know… sweeter?"

He raised his eyebrows at me and gave me a get serious look. "No, not sweeter… Sookie smells a little sweeter. You have more of a… _heat_ to you."

"Ummm ok… so she's sugar and I'm spice? What is with you and Sookie?" I couldn't help my slight jealousy. I was definitely becoming quite drawn Eric. His constant interactions and somewhat chasing after her was not only making me agitated towards him but I was also starting to maybe feel a little bit of that towards her.

He chuckled at me softly and when we made eye contact there was a slight twinkle there. Was it a light from the angels or his devil deep inside? I chuckled thinking that and he gave me a curious little look.

"You sound a little put off. Do you not like Sookie?

"I don't really like anyone but no…. that's not really it. I just don't like that you like her." Well, I was never really all that afraid to say what I felt. "Answer the question before I get pissy."

He chuckled again. "I find Sookie useful and when I need her abilities, I call on her. I find her to be an interesting person. She surprises me and that's rare for a human to do. I do find her attractive sexually but her connection with Bill will never allow for anything to happen." I let out a sigh hearing his words. Life just fuckin' sucks! Truth hurts doesn't it? I usually come out on the bottom of these types of situations anyway because I'm not exactly a ray of sunshine.

"Well… it's been a long night. I've said a lot. You've said a lot. I'm really feeling the need for sleep now." I stood from the sofa chair and started for the door. When I got there, I felt him behind me. He wasn't touching me but he seemed to be smelling my hair… yep that's what he was doing. Then, like he was touching the wings of a butterfly, he moved my hair from my neck and I felt the tip of his nose move down slowly from under my ear to the base. He was breathing me in. My heart started to beat a little faster and I released the breath I didn't know I had been holding. I felt his breath on my ear as his lips lightly grazed it when he spoke.

"Goodnight Tristan." Then he moved from behind me and slipped through the door… he was gone into the pitch black of the night. I closed the door and turned off all the lights in the front part of the house as I made my way to the bedroom. I pulled my clothes off once I got there and put on my sleeping shorts and t-shirt that I pulled from my dresser. Once I pulled the covers back, I climbed into the bed and laid on my side thinking about the night.

I was still very surprised at everything he had told me. I didn't know Eric spoke that many sentences at one time. Not that he couldn't just that he never felt the need to. I found it a little odd that any time we had a conversation, nothing really got resolved and it usually ended abruptly. I am aware the abrupt endings were my doing. But I still didn't get it. It's easy to admit my frustrations to myself… I find that I am having some sort of feelings for him now. That in itself is frustrating but the timing with everything else that seems to be going on right now… I guess the world doesn't stop and wait for you. Something is blurring my judgment or maybe I don't care anymore, I told Eric my story and I wonder what he thinks of it. He never really said anything. I really hate that I'm having little girlish feelings about him now… never before have I wondered or cared what anyone else thought. I guess my worry is that I know I am possibly setting myself up to fail. He is a closed off kind of man and he's already openly admitted his feelings towards humans and that he doesn't like having feelings. Maybe I see a mirror image in him? I'm thinking _way _too much about this. Plus he has this _thing_, best word I could think of to describe it, with Sookie. Knowing vampires and well… men for that matter… he has needs. He gets his blood and sex somewhere and I'm sure many woman throw themselves at him on a regular basis. Ugh! I really need to stop thinking about this…

I awoke the next morning with the sun shining brightly in my eyes. It burned and I sat up rubbing my eyes. I clutched my forehead, it really sucks waking up with a headache! Pulling the covers back I slid out of bed and walked to the bathroom and turned the shower on. Once I was done in the shower and ready for the day I made my way to the kitchen and made myself something to eat. Nothing special… just a sandwich and a soda. I had the lunch shift at work and headed out the door.

The day was slow at Merlotte's especially being behind the bar. Not many people drank liquor at lunch time. Sookie was working the same shift and she kept looking at me, every time I turned to face her there she was looking at me. She would always quickly look away any time I caught her. This time I waved her over, she approached rather cautiously.

"Something wrong Sookie?" I gave her a bored look.

She smiled a lot when she was nervous. "Well, uh, you haven't been yourself this past week and I've been worried about you but…. you seem better today."

"Why would you worry about me? I am nothing to you." I said bluntly.

"I consider you a friend so I care about your well being. Bill was a little disturbed after he tried to talk to you last night. So disturbed in fact that he called Eric and that's a place he doesn't go to unless he really has to." I really did not like the way his name sounded on her lips. But… I had to push it aside for now. "We've had enough trouble around here recently and you looked down right demonic this past week. You were actually scaring customers away. Sam wanted to let you go but he was a bit afraid to do so." _Demonic…_ lovely choice of words.

"Bon Temps… trouble?"

She was practically whispering when she leaned forward to tell me about it. "Yeah. We had a maenad reek havoc on our town just before you got here. No offense but with the timing, it was questionable… especially with your attitude. When Bill and I came back from Dallas and found the town in the shape that it was in… WOW! Bill and Sam found a way to stop her. Things are back to normal and we have been able to rebuild from the damage. Thankfully none of the towns people remember anything." Her eyes were wide as she was telling me this. I found it laughable.

I chuckled. " You have got to be kidding me. A fucking maenad? Big whoop!" I through my hand in the air for dramatic effect and walked away from her. Then turned around and gave her a sharp look of curiosity. "You and Bill went on a getaway to… _Dallas_?"

"Oh no. We went there because Eric had asked me to help in finding a missing sheriff. Not just any missing sheriff either… it was his maker… Godric." She let out a sigh.

"So… you met Eric's maker? I assume that you found him."

"Yeah but he's gone now… he met with the sun. He no longer wanted to be here, it was very tough on Eric to loose him. Godric was a great man. Even though I was pissed at Eric for tricking me into being bonded with him, I really felt for him when Godric died. Just before Eric left him on the roof he actually let me see him cry and beg for Godric not to do it. It was nice to see Eric in a slightly different light." I looked down at the counter for a moment and then looked back her face. She seemed to have been remembering what happened on that rooftop. She looked a little sad at the moment.

"He tricked you into being bonded with him. How?" I wasn't stupid, I knew what it meant to be bonded. I let out a sigh, not sure what to feel at the moment.

Thank God Merlotte's was dead because she launched into a very detailed account of everything that happened when they were in Dallas. The girl was certainly winded and loved to talk. She told me all about her and Hugo infiltrating The Fellowship of the Sun and their capture and Hugo being a traitor. She told me about Godric saving her from Gabe and her and Eric trying to make the great escape but getting caught in the sanctuary. Eric chained down with silver to be the sacrifice but then Bill rushed in and then the Dallas vamps rushed in and then her brother Jason shot Steve Newlin with a paintball gun. She freed Eric from the silver chains and then Godric interrupted and in a nutshell, sort of saved the day. I was told about the party back at Godric and the Dallas vampire's house when one of the fellowship members walked in with a bomb strapped to himself and blew the place up. Bill was outside dealing with his maker Lorena. Eric stepped in front of her to shield her from the silver and shrapnel from the bomb. He had two silver pieces in his chest and he said he was dying if she didn't get them out, so since it was too disgusting to stick her finger in the wounds she decided it would be better to suck the pieces out. Of course she ended up swallowing a little bit of his blood in the process. Bill informed her that she really didn't need to do that because the silver was already pushing itself out and that Eric was already healing. But now Eric can sense her and her emotions. She really wasn't the smartest sometimes. She was just way too gullible. After hearing it all, I really had nothing to say and she looked very puzzled when I simply turned and walked away from her.

Well, it's done now. I think whatever little thing I had going on inside me over Eric washed away when I learned of the two of them being bonded. He can have Sookie, I really don't care anymore. Good thing I can get that shit outta my way… I've got enough on my plate than to daydream about some fucking vampire.


	6. Bound

**6. Bound**

"**Think you're a little bit closer to changing me? You're never winning me over. You're wasting time."**

I was in Shreveport at the library doing research, finding anything worthy of reading that had to do with religion, mythology, and the supernatural. Though there were some interesting reads I didn't find any answers, of course I wasn't exactly looking for anything specific. I really didn't know what to look for but I think that maybe I am just trying to find something to comfort me. I am growing very restless at what this dark _thing _is within me. I've always known that there is something there, a beast if you will, lurking beneath the surface. After I died and went to some form of hell things changed when I came crashing back into this world. The power, the beast, had changed. I no longer saw the true faces or felt/sensed people's humanity. While I was glad to be rid of that, no one would enjoy the face of a demon, I felt a stronger darkness within me and I felt it right down to my core. I knew I wasn't possessed or anything stupid like that, this evil was a part of me… right down to the fiber of my being. It wasn't the heaven and hell type of thing either… this was very different. It…. I…. felt supernatural and I knew it wasn't some sort demon or angel from Christianity lore. I remember as a child and when I was in the psycho ward, which was catholic, I felt uncomfortable being there but the evil within me never responded to the baptisms or exorcisms or the prayers and chants. I responded to the torture but it wasn't a feeling I imagined I would feel if I was a demon of this world. Ugh! I was frustrated and I had a headache again. This was all too much to think about right now, I had to give myself a break or my head was going to explode.

On the drive back to Bon Temps I grabbed something to eat at a drive thru. I was never really into greasy fast food but it was actually somewhat comforting this afternoon. When I pulled in my driveway Sookie was sitting on my front porch. What the hell does she want? I wonder how freakin' long she had been waiting there. After I parked my car in the garage I walked around to the front porch where she was.

"Wow… nice car!" She exclaimed excitingly. She had a huge smile on her face. I found it so annoying along with her stupid little summer dress and her blonde hair pulled back into a sweet ponytail. She looked like a damned southern bell. It's gross. It's not obvious that I am a bit bitter towards her, is it? I have no idea why I feel so angry towards her. It's not like Eric's interest in her was her doing.

"Uh, thanks. What are you doing here?" I walked to the front door and unlocked it and set my things down just inside the door and then quickly shut it. I stood in front of the door with my arms folded over my chest and waited for her reply. There's no way I am letting her in my house, I don't want her to stick around that long. I have a lot to do and I have a feeling it isn't going to be easy work.

She looked a little put off by my actions and the tone of my voice. "Well the other day you just walked off after I told you about the maenad and Dallas and since then you've been acting a little cold to me. Have I done something to offend you?"

"No. You may think of us as friends but I think I've been pretty clear on this from the start, I don't. I'm not interested in making friends, this is a really bad time and potentially dangerous to bring anyone into my life. You said the other day Bon Temps had enough trouble, well, let's keep it that way and let me keep to myself. I gotta work some shit out Sookie." She was the type of person that wanted to help anyone that was having a bad time, which is commendable but I have no idea exactly what is going on with me and I really didn't want to hurt the girl in the process. I figured if I was harsh with her it would make her want to stay away from me.

"I don't understand. Are you in some kind of trouble?" The worry was slowly approaching on her face.

"I _am_ the trouble. Stay away from me. I mean it." I said in a harsh tone. I hate it when people push and can't take no for an answer. She's really starting to frustrate me. Tears started to form in her eyes but she was able to pull through and ask me another damn question.

"You didn't seem surprised when I mentioned the maenad the other day, in fact you didn't have one question about it and didn't seem effected at all. Why is that?"

"There are worse things than a maenad out there. Since it had already happened and had been taken care of, why was I supposed to care about it?" I had a tone of annoyance, I just wanted her gone. I could feel the darkness rising from within and I wasn't sure how much control I would have over it. Please just leave Sookie.

"You didn't even ask what a maenad was."

"I already knew what they are. So why ask questions?"

"How did…"

I gave her a hard glare and stepped a little closer to her. My skin was starting to feel a little warm and I felt the monster stir a little inside. "Sookie… we are done now. Be gone." My tone was heavy and menacing, even though it wasn't that serious I felt as though if she didn't leave I would rip her to shreds. She looked frightened and quickly walked to her car and drove away. Good girl. I felt bad being so mean to her and I really didn't understand why I was so nasty to her as of late. Of course the issue with Eric and her was there but that wasn't her fault. It seems as though this power was growing stronger and stronger by the minute and as unfriendly as I was to people, I didn't want to hurt anyone. And now I was realizing that anytime I got slightly pissed or frustrated or annoyed… it made it's way to the surface. This little evil inside.

I went into the house and pulled out some of the information I had written down while I was at the library. An author of one of the mythology books I skimmed through, I had an interest in getting a hold of him. I started my round of phone calls to track this man down. It took me a long time before I got anywhere. The last person that I had talked to had an address, I wrote it down on the paper in front of me on the coffee table. When I clicked the phone off I looked up and out the window and realized that it was now dark outside. I turned my head to the clock on the wall, it was 7:15. I threw my pen down on the table and figured to myself that I would continue my search for this man in the morning. I had no intentions of writing him a letter, I wanted to get a phone number for him and if I couldn't get a phone number then I was going to either drive or fly to find this person at the address I had on the paper. I groaned loudly when I heard the knock on my door. I was afraid to deal with anyone else right now, especially after the way I treated Sookie. I have a fear of not being able to control my monster and who knows when it may over take me completely.

"GO AWAY!" I shouted at the door. The knock sounded louder and I heard his voice.

"It's Eric. Open up… we need to talk."

I got up rather forcefully and freaked a little when I realized that I had snapped the arm of the couch. It was now dangling to the floor only being held together by the fabric. Shit! Where'd that hulk strength come from? This was a very sturdy couch, one of the reasons I liked it so much. The knock was now a bang on the door. The frustration was starting to heat under my skin and I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down. With his impatience at the door and my frustrations and worry of self control, things were really starting to compound and get worse. My skin was feeling warm and just kept getting hotter as I was growing more frustrated. The vision in my eyes changed, it became much much sharper.

"HOLD ON DAMN IT!! I'm fuckin' coming." I stomped my way over to the door and threw the door open with some force. The pissed off look on Eric's face washed away immediately when he saw the look on mine. He was opening up his mouth to speak but I beat him to the punch.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why are you pounding on _my_ door? When I say to go away, I fuckin' mean it asshole! You _will_ watch your tone when speaking to me and how fuckin' dare you to look pissed at me when I opened this door." I breathed rather hard, I was practically panting with anger. My skin felt like it was on fire and Eric took a step back. Smart move since I felt as though I was loosing the battle for self control. I didn't even know myself to act this way so I knew what the driving force behind it was….

"Tristan, please calm down. I can feel the heat coming off of you in waves and your eyes have turned black… literally. Calm down, I do not want to fight with you." He was holding his hand out in front of me, motioning me to stop My ragged breathing was starting to slow as I tried to regain control of myself. When he saw me visibly relax he breezed past me into my house at vampire speed. When I slammed the door shut and turned around he was looking over the papers on the coffee table and eyeing the busted arm to the couch. I took a few steps towards him and then stopped. I took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

"What are you doing here?"

"The Jury will be arriving this Saturday. We need to talk about taking some precautions before they get here." He was eyeing me wearily but then sat down on the couch. He started rummaging through the papers on the table.

"Do not touch any of that." I said low but sternly. He stopped fumbling through it and looked up at me.

"What is all this? Tristan… what are you doing?"

"None of your fucking business. Damn it Northman! Stay on topic. What precautions?" I was starting to calm but I get frustrated so easily and I could feel the heat under my skin moving back to a hotter temperature. Damn it! I gotta control this.

He let out a sigh and I could see the confusion in his eyes. "I think I should claim you as mine. As a measure of protection, no other vampire has a right to touch you or do anything to you with out having to answer to me or go through me. I would have to drink from you so that fresh bite marks can be seen, they would look for them as proof that you are in fact mine. These guys wont miss anything and they will try any possible route to be able to take you. I would have you drink from me as well, they might check to see if we are bonded. It's better if we are because it would be even harder for them to take you away. Since I am a sheriff and they really have no power with those precautions set in place, there isn't much they can do. Plus I will tell them that I have already taken care of your punishment." His voice, the one that was once magical to me, sounded weary.

"No. I will take care of The Jury myself."

He stood and looked at me harshly. "You can't take care of them by yourself. They will torture you then kill you."

"Good." My voice was raspy but held enough weight to let him know I meant what I was saying. It wasn't really that I wanted to die but for some reason I wanted to have a go with this Jury.

"Do you want to die? You've fought your whole life to stay alive and now you are throwing in the towel?" He was angry with me but he was holding back. The tone in his voice said so. He was frustrated with the way I was acting but also concerned at what was just below the surface and didn't want to push me.

"Be honest with me Northman. Why did you really come here? Saturday is five days away. We both know that a bite mark on me wont look fresh unless it's done right before the meeting. Why are you really here?"

"It's been a couple of days since I've seen you, since our last talk." His voice was softer, the anger wasn't as evident at this moment. For a brief moment that touched me, it made me feel as though he really truly just wanted to see me. Then the thoughts of Sookie came crashing back into my skull. Why when I asked about his relationship with her the other day did he leave out the part of tricking her to be bonded with him? It happened before we met so I can't scold him on what he did but I didn't understand why he was trying to hide it from me. Ugh… the frustration is growing again.

I looked up at him, my deep blue eyes bore into his pale blue. I looked away, I looked past him. I really didn't want to be seeing him. "Why are you really here?" I said it a little more sternly this time.

"I just left Sookie's house…" At that moment I slammed my hand so hard down on the bookcase that I was standing next to that it crumbled to the floor, broken. I felt his eyes stare upon me in wonder. I shook my hand out and opened and closed my fist, it felt absolutely fine. At that moment I knew why he came and it was a little disheartening, he didn't really come just to see me. I don't understand why he's being sneaky about Sookie. I hated that I couldn't control myself and every little thing was pissing me off. I took a few deep breaths to try to relax before I managed to push out two words.

"Thought so."

"She was upset, I thought she was in some kind of trouble or something. As soon as darkness fell, I went to see if she was alright and she was crying Bill's shoulders and told us everything that transpired between the two of you this afternoon."

"You thought she was in some kind of trouble? Or you felt it through your bond when I scared the crap out o her? You couldn't run to save precious Sookie until the sun went down and you immediately rushed to her side when it did. Once you found out what happened, you angrily came pounding on my fuckin' door to scold me for being nasty to dear little Sookie." He was looking at me with a very confused and frustrated look on his face. I was still trying calm myself with my breathing exercises, slowly I could feel it working. I don't not wanna fight with Eric Northman.

"Are you seriously this upset over the fact that I have a bond with Sookie that you are going to throw your life away to The Jury? Are you that jealous of my relationship with her? Now you're being nasty to her because of this jealousy as well? I told you what my relationship is with her. Why are you acting this way?" The anger was back in his voice and the pissed off look on his face showed what his voice couldn't say. He was shaking his head in disbelief.

I looked down to the floor. "Yes." I melted down to the floor where I was standing, I couldn't trust my legs to hold me up anymore. Sitting there I put my head in my hands and started massaging my head with my fingertips. My head felt as though it was going to split open right now. I felt him move and saw him kneeling in front of me and his voice was very soft when he spoke.

"Are you ok Tristan?"

I started slowly rocking back and forth. "No." I started to cry softly to myself, I was never a heavy crier. "Everything is getting worse and it's happening so fast. I don't understand it and I'm having a hard time controlling myself. I'm really not angry with Sookie yet I'm being horrible to her. Every little thing sets me off and I feel it stirring beneath my skin when I get frustrated or upset in anyway. No matter the scale of it. I know I'm not a ray of sunshine but I'm not this nasty either. I'm being horrible to you as well." Thankfully he had that vamp hearing because I'm not sure how audible I was. He placed his hands on my shoulders to stop me from rocking and then put a finger under my chin to lift my head up. In an uncharacteristic gesture for Eric, he wiped the tears away from my face. He grabbed my upper arms gently and pulled me back to my feet and walked me over to the couch and sat me down. I leaned back against the couch and looked at him. I couldn't read the expression on his face as he sat on the coffee table directly in front of me.

"I can handle it. I know you are not intentionally being this way. Whatever is affecting you is really coming over you fast right now, that is a bit alarming. As I have said before… in regards to Sookie… there is nothing there for you to be jealous over. Our arrangement is strictly business, it may not look it from time to time but take my word for it." I was a bit surprised he threw that last part in there.

"I don't really care about that anymore Eric, I can't." I was happy that he was trying to reassure me about his relations with Sookie but I was too caught up in the fact that I may not win this fight with the monster inside. Maybe it's better that I get close to no one and no one gets close to me. Plus, I've never been good with close.

"I want you to."

"I may not win this fight."

"You are stronger than any human I've met so far, you will beat this. Moments ago you stated that you feel _it_ stirring beneath your skin. What is _it_ that you feel stirring?" His eyes were deep, he had a lot going on in his head. He must be running through every possible scenario of what to do.

"My monster… the beast within… the evil inside." I spoke slowly, the words didn't even make sense to my ears. How can I expect him not to laugh at this. Before I went to some hell dimension I dealt with having certain _abilities, _if you will. I felt a certain freedom in them being gone when I came back but it was easy to tell that there was something there in it's place, something dark. I never thought of my _abilities_ as good or evil, no matter what my parents or anyone else thought. I wish this was simple enough to say I was possessed or something of the sorts, then I would know somewhat I was dealing with. This _thing_ is a part of me… we're connected.

He looked at me steadily. "There's no monster or beast inside of you. If it is evil, you must remember that you are human and you are in control. Don't let it take over you. You have the power to choose good versus evil, that is a human right. Most humans end up in gray areas." I knew what he was meaning with what he was saying and he seemed to have chosen what to say very carefully and kept himself from launching into a lengthy lecture over the topic. He was still looking at me steadily and I was starting to see that it was more of studying look. A spark popped in my head and a questioned formed on my lips. Something I had been wanting to ask for a while.

"I appreciate your willingness to help me. I've already asked why you want to help. I get that it's because you are intrigued with me and because I've awakened certain feelings within you towards a _human_, one of them being respect. So… what's in this for you? You don't seem the type to put yourself out there without getting something in return." I wasn't sure how he'd react to this question. I don't think he'll be angry by it but since he hasn't brought it up before, I wasn't sure of his willingness to talk about it. Sometimes I really hated the way vampires could be so still, he was sitting there like he was a damn statue or something. His eyes were on my face but he wasn't really looking at me, he was off somewhere in his head.

"You are perceptive." His voice was low but there were no dark undertones or anything in it.

"Nothing is free." His eyes finally focused to mine. A little smirk played at the corner of his lips but soon faded. He was working his answer out in his head it seemed, didn't want to push this conversation in the wrong direction.

"You are right. I would expect a favor or two from you in return." His eyes never moved off of mine and his body seemed to tense in the slightest. I don't know why he thought I would be upset over that.

"Of course. That seems fair." I said smoothly and with a shrug of the shoulders. He smirked a little and then nodded. "So… what do you think this _thing_ is that's inside of me? I know I'm not possessed, I feel as though I'm connected to it…. like we are one."

"You and the _thing_ probably are connected. You most likely are one but since we don't know for sure I cannot say absolutely. I do not think that this has been a part of you your whole life. I think it connected with you when you…. when you…"

"Were in hell." I finished for him when he started to stammer a little. He nodded slightly and looked down at the floor and rubbed his chin.

"You are sure that it was _hell_?" He cut his eyes up to me waiting for my answer and even though I had thought about it quite a bit recently, I had to take a few moments to really think about it.

"Actually…" I paused to think further. New ideas were spawning in my head at the moment and I felt as though I was putting a few more pieces to the puzzle together. "I don't think I went to hell, to be honest. It could be described as some kind of hell but I really felt that I was pulled into a different world… a different dimension." I laughed at that. Hearing that last part out loud sounded silly when spoken, like I'm talking crazy or something. When I saw the serious look upon his face, I stopped laughing.

"That's what I have been thinking." As he stood up he reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. The two of us standing between the couch and the coffee table put us in _very _close proximity with each other. He leaned down a little so that his face was at my neck and his nose started to lightly graze my skin. He was breathing me in again. His head moved up slightly so that we were now eye to eye, he kept looking from my eyes to my lips. He opened his mouth and I could feel his breath on my face when he licked his lips. His face was maybe and inch from mine when he spoke.

"You smell incredible… that _spice_… that _heat _that we spoke of before is intoxicating. It's barely there… like it's a secret. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced before." His eyes were closed as he was speaking, he was still breathing me in. He moved back down to my neck and brushed my hair back lightly with his fingers, his fingers barely grazed my skin in the process and the feeling it left behind in it's wake… was like little sparks of electricity exploding and buzzing just underneath the surface. My heartbeat sounded a little louder and heavier in my chest, I was definitely having a reaction to him despite what I may have said before of being done with him. I felt my blood surging through my veins and literally felt it move through every part of my body. It was all I could do to keep from crumbling when I felt his breath on my neck , I was starting to feel a little light headed as he spoke.

"I would _love _to know what you taste like. It's becoming _painful_ to hold myself back." His voice was raspy and a whisper.

"Drink." I breathed out.

Without any hesitation I felt his teeth sink into my skin and he was surprisingly gentle. There was a trickle of blood that rolled down as the blood was flowing heavily to that area. I could feel the blood being pulled from my body and the light headedness was moving to a more faint type of feeling. I was pulling myself to be strong as I felt darkness pushing in on the edges. He had one hand in my hair, gripping my head tightly to the side. The other hand was around me and had me in a tight grip against his body, I was pressed so tightly against him that I could feel every ripple. His body was like a rock and so perfectly defined. The darkness continued to pull at the edges of my reality and was starting to move in on me fast. Then WHAM! My eyes shot open and I put my hands on his chest and shoved him away with a force I didn't recognize within myself. He was ripped away from my neck and flew about six feet backwards and landed with backwards type of roll with his shoulders and the back of his head slamming into the wall. His eyes were as wide as saucers and he had my blood dripping down his chin. I gripped my neck and fell to the floor, I started scrambling backwards pushing the couch out of the way in the process. The look of fear and terror in my eyes I'm sure was evident. The fading out had felt like an all too familiar memory.

We stared at each other from opposite ends of the living room. He was breathing heavily and let out a growl, a deep growl that came from very low in his chest. He slumped over onto the floor and flattened his back against the floor and started rubbing himself… his chest, his arms, his stomach, his neck , and his face. He was still breathing heavily as he let out a deep roar, he sounded like a lion. He was panting as my blood coursed through his body, he reached for the collar of his shirt and ripped it open all the way down the front. He lifted his arms in the air and had his hands clenched into fists and shook them in the air as he started laughing. He rolled over on his side and looked at me with a glow in his eyes. He looked like he was feeling pretty damn good.

"Your blood _is _like FIRE! I can feel it move through me, it's incredible. I feel hot…. I feel strong." I guess in a motion to demonstrate how strong he felt he punched a hole through my floor. Not like he couldn't do that with out my blood. In a swift motion he whipped himself up and was standing…. looking around the room. Hopefully he isn't looking for something else to break. He pulled the rest of his shirt off since he damaged it pretty well, it was kind of pointless to wear at this point. If I was in a different frame of mind I would really be appreciating the site in front of me. I pulled my hand way from my neck, I was no longer bleeding. That was nice. I continued taking slow deep breaths, working hard to keep the bad memories at bay. I had to repeat to myself a few times that this was not the same, this is a different circumstance. I gave permission this time. I worked on trying to get myself to stand, my whole body was shaky and wobbly. Eric was in front of me in an instant and grabbed my arms to help me up. I immediately ripped my arms from his grasp and shoved his hands away.

"Don't touch me right now. I'm gonna need a few minutes here." I said sternly. I managed to get to my feet and walked down the hall and into my bedroom. I grabbed a towel as I walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet. When the water was a comfortable temperature I placed the towel under the stream of water and soaked it. I rung it out and turned off the water. Looking in the mirror I went to task wiping the blood from my neck. Once the blood was completely cleaned off I was shocked at the site in the mirror. I leaned closer and turned my head to get a better look at my neck, the bite mark was completely healed. There wasn't even a sign that it had happened. I took a few deep breaths and headed out of the room and made my way to the kitchen, after getting a soda out of the fridge I sat at the table. Eric came walking in and it was clear that he had a better handle on himself now. He sat down right next to me, it made me very uncomfortable but I dealt with it.

"Are you ok?" He asked softly and placed a hand on my back. He removed it quickly when I shied away from his touch.

"It brought back some memories but I am ok now. Just freaked me out. Sorry for throwing you across the room."

"I figured that's what happened. Your blood is amazing… very powerful. Caught me by surprise as soon as it started flowing inside of me. Took me a few minutes to get it under control."

"Must be an overwhelming experience the first time you taste it. Luca reacted the same way after he attacked me." My voice was just above a whisper. I turned my head to the side and brushed my hair back. "Look." He looked at the place where he had bitten me and seemed a little surprised. He reached his hand out and this time I didn't shy away, he brushed the spot lightly with his fingers.

"Your power has certainly grown. Is the spot even remotely sore?"

"Nope. It's like it never even happened." His hand slid down from my neck and wrapped around my wrist as he pulled my hand to his chest. He was warm. I smiled at him. I wondered how that felt to him, he is over 1000 years as a vampire. It's been a long time since there was any heat to his skin.

"It definitely happened." He smiled back at me and it nearly knocked me out of my chair. I've never seen this man do anything more than smirk at the most. He was an insanely gorgeous man and you'd be hard up to find anyone that could compare to his beauty but when he smiled… nothing was comparable. He was in a different echelon than the rest.

"You feel incredible. Seeing you smile has to be one of the most beautiful sights I think I've ever seen." Surprisingly I became a little shy with that last comment and had to turn away from his gaze. His face had turned serious but not in a bad way, I just don't think he was expecting that sort of comment coming from me at this moment. I pulled my hand away from his chest and as I was sliding it away he caught it in one of his hands that were resting on the table and wrapped it in his. With his free hand he reached for my chin and turned my face towards him, making me look at him. He was serious about whatever he was going to say.

"Whatever is inside you, it can't be evil. Not after this glimpse of what you can do. It's bound to you, it is a part of _you_. Not you a part of _it._ It seems evil now because you don't have control over it and you don't know what it is. A fear of the unknown makes it bad? Remember who _you_ are." He stood from the chair at the kitchen table and let go of my hand in the process. He moved both his hands to my face and placed one on each side… he leaned down and kissed me. It wasn't forceful but he was commanding, he moved his lips on mine as I responded to him and deepened the kiss. Moments later he broke away and turned and walked out of then kitchen, then I heard the front door close. Feeling the void and absence of his lips my hand moved up to my mouth and my fingertips lightly grazed my lips… lips that were still tingling and burning from his touch.

I glanced at the clock on the microwave and it was nearly 2am. It's been quite a night and quite the rollercoaster ride of emotions in one day. Somehow Eric's presence this evening pushed me to deal with whatever is inside and has me wrapping my head around it in a different way. I really didn't want to contemplate it now, my brain felt warped enough from the day. I got up from the kitchen table and headed for my bedroom. After a steamy relaxing shower I climbed into bed and fell fast asleep.

I slept a long time. I awoke late in the next day and glancing at the clock I saw that it was nearing 4:30 in the afternoon. I threw the covers back and slid out of bed. My stomach was grumbling so I headed for the kitchen and fixed myself something to eat. Nothing special since I am not much of a cook but it satisfied my hunger just fine. There was a note on the table, I saw it when I came in but I ignored it for a while. There was something strange about it, like if I read it there'd be some huge shock and I really didn't want to face that just yet. Still ignoring the note I left the kitchen and went to my room and changed. I wanted to see Sookie to apologize.

I left and headed for Bill Compton's house, since I had no idea where Sookie lived. I didn't really no where Bill lived either but when I stopped and asked for directions to Sookie's place the person didn't seem to feel comfortable telling me. The dude handed over directions no problem when I asked about Bill. Bill lived in an old house, well obviously since it had been passed down for a few generations in his family. For the age of the house it was of decent size. It was obvious that he had done quite a few renovations to it. Since the sun was just starting to set, I sat on the front steps and figured I'd give the vamp a little time to wake up. I think I had maybe been sitting there an hour when I heard the front door open. I stood up and turned around, the broody vamp had quite the scowl on his face. He definitely wasn't happy to see me. I didn't blame him either.

"You're brave coming here after the way you treated Sookie yesterday." Spoke the dark haired vamp in his southern drawl. I smirked at his words. He furrowed his eyebrows together.

"Look… I came to apologize to Sookie for my behavior. I know she's forgiving but I don't expect you to be. Frankly I don't give a shit about that. I've got too much going on to give a damn. I don't need either of you to like me. I feel bad about the way I treated Sookie yesterday… I wasn't exactly myself but I think I have a little better control now. Please pass along my message of apology. Enjoy your night." I turned and started walking down the steps.

"Tristan, wait." Bill voice was smooth and low. I really did enjoy the Louisiana accent on him. I turned to look at him and he had a very curious look on his face. "What has been happening with you lately? The blackness of your eyes when you returned from the road trip you took and the way you acted with Sookie yesterday… she said it wasn't really what you said but it was the look in your eyes. She said you looked evil and you moved upon her like you were going to tear her apart."

I shrugged my shoulders, I wasn't exactly sure what to tell him. I let out a deep sigh. "I really don't know but it ain't good. I'm trying to get a handle on it." I smirked slightly. "We'll see if I manage to make it out alive. Pass my message along to Sookie." I pointed at him with that last part and he nodded in return. I started backing away and he tried to open his mouth to say more but I silenced him putting my finger over my lips. You know, the _shh_ symbol. He stared at me completely confused and watched as I walked to my car and drove off.

When I walked through the door to my house I went straight for the kitchen table. I grabbed the note, it was time to read it.

_Tristan,_

_I came to see you but didn't want to wake you. You looked peaceful._

_Eric_

I fell to the floor… I was completely bowled over. I'm sure I had a look of bewilderment on my face. How did he come see me during… the day?


	7. I Against I

**7. I Against I**

"**Whoever survive this… only one of us can ride forever. So you and I can't ride together… can't live or can't die together. All we can do is collide together. So I skillfully apply the pressure. Won't stop until I am forever… One!"**

I have no idea how long I have been sitting on the floor. Everything was running through my head and I still don't have a clue as to how or why Eric was able to walk around in the sun. It can't be because of me… can it? My blood couldn't do something like that. That is ridiculous to even think of as a possibility, although it is the only thing running through my head that stuck at the front. You know… of course making sure I chewed on it for a while.

If it is my blood that has affected him this way, it is a lasting affect? I really didn't understand any of this and now the scary thoughts started rolling in. What would vamps do for this… for my blood? If it isn't a lasting affect, would Eric want more? Would he try to take more? I had to laugh at myself for that one… _take more_… I am finding some comfort in the fact that I can match Eric in power. So I can put up one hell of a fight if he does try to _take_ from me. Oh shit! That's right… brain fart… my blood made him stronger than he usually is. Well, there's nothing like being in between a rock and a hard place!

Just as I was letting out a sigh of frustration an excruciatingly sharp pain shot through my chest causing my whole back to arch and tighten. My head threw back as I let out a scream from the agonizing pain. It spread from the dead center of my chest and moved outwards to my shoulders and arms. I fell back onto the floor completely and started shaking and twitching violently from the pain. Tears poured out of my eyes and streamed heavily down my cheeks. I was panting and breathing hard as the pain was also spreading down my ribcage, it was a crushing pain. I felt a few of my ribs crack and break, I could barely breathe. My whole body started thrashing about and convulsing as the pain continued it's downward descent. I felt pressure everywhere, like something trying to push it's way to the surface. I could feel my face turning red and my eyes hurting. The pain in my eyes was so intense that even though I could barely breathe I let out another scream. My eyes darted about the room and I squeezed them shut in an effort to alleviate some pain before I felt a sort of pop in both eyes… then everything went black.

I felt as though I was no longer with my body as I was falling through this black dark abyss. I felt no pain for which I was somewhat thankful for but I've been here before. I must be dead. _Again._ After what seemed like an endless fall, I felt ground beneath me and it was cold. This place is all too familiar… the smell of ash and charred flesh in the air, the corpses and carcasses laying about, the sandy black dirt that felt coarse on my feet, and rock that reminded me of lava rock. Even though it was pitch black here, I could see perfectly. The… I don't know… _demons_ stared at me in a way that had me a little shook. They were looking at me with a sort of wonder. It's hard to actually call them demons because they look just like you and me, each and every one of them beautiful. Perfect looking milky white skin that had black soot smudges, thick shiny hair, bodies that would make anyone envious, and they moved so gracefully. They were all so amazingly beautiful, you'd be hard up to find one ugly demon here. The eyes were the only part that gave them away completely, you can instantly tell how different these _things_ are. Most of them had yellow eyes, somewhat reminiscent of cat eyes. Others had eyes that were orange or red, the red ones were especially frightening. Just looking at them made me shudder.

I started walking around, I didn't know what to do or if I spoke, would they understand me? I must admit that it is a bit distracting looking around at them, none of them wear clothes… not even loin cloths. The eerie thing was that as I walked around they would step away from me and slightly bow their heads then look at me. It was like I was parting the seas of demons as I walked about. This place is like a black coal pit and the stench in the air was a choking one. As I was walking I noticed one of the red eyed demons standing there and it looked like he waiting for me to approach. The crowds continued to part as I walked forward, _red _was about twenty feet in front of me. When I reached him, he fell to his knees and bowed his head towards the ground and when he stood up and spoke his voice was low, dark, and sinister. It actually reminded me of the Harry Potter movies when Harry spoke to that snake. Funny thought at this time.

"My lord… " That was all I heard before everything started going fuzzy. I saw his lips moving but I couldn't hear a word. My vision was starting to blur and my cheek had a little sting to it. Then my shoulders started to shake… everything went black again. I fluttered my eyes open and saw Sookie hanging over me, she had a tight grip on my shoulders and was shaking me as hard as she could. She slapped me across the face again before she realized I was awake.

"Oh my god… Tristan!" She pulled me up in a tight hug and started petting the back of my head, smoothing my hair down. "Are you alright? What happened?" The sound of worry and concern was heavy in her voice. I took a look around us and there was blood, spit, and vomit surrounding me. She pulled back with her hands still firmly planted on my shoulders. The look on her face said it all… _what the fuck happened here?_

"I… I… don't know exactly." My voice was hoarse and hurt like hell to speak. I pulled away from Sookie gently and struggled to get to my feet. I walked over to the sink very wobbly, grabbed a glass and filled it with water. I downed it so fast I almost choked. I repeated the downing of the water three times, I had never felt so thirsty in my life. I turned to look at Sookie, she was covered in the blood, spit, and vomit. She kept looking from me to the floor where I was… just dumbfounded.

"Are you alright?" She asked me as I tossed her a wet towel so that she could attempt to clean herself up a bit. "Thanks" She said in response. I nodded.

"Yeah, I feel ok. It was so strange. I feel completely worn out now but it happened so fast and it came out of nowhere. It's like I had a seizure or something." I had to lie to her. I hated doing so considering she had always been so nice to me but she didn't know the extent of my past. Eric was the only one I had ever told. I didn't want to scare her plus, I figured that selfishly she might be safer left in the dark on this one. Plus I don't think I can handle a full blown conversation about it right now. Knowing her she'd have a billion questions. It was then that I heard a noise in the other room. I looked at Sookie and she gave me a reassuring look.

"Bill are you doing alright in there?" She said moving to the kitchen entryway.

"I'll be alright. I do not want to go in that room with her blood on the floor." I loved his southern drawl. It was soothing like ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day after you've been working outside. I moved next to Sookie in the entryway to the kitchen. Bill was standing by the couch looking very uncomfortable. When I walked up and stood next to Sookie he moved further back and stood before the fireplace. He was looking us both over with a hard look, a hungry look. I glanced down and saw that my blood was on both of us, even though Sookie had wiped herself off she still had some on her clothes.

"Bill you better leave. Sookie can meet up with you later after she's changed her clothes." I said sternly and took a step forward. I was trying to get through to him, the thirst looked like it was growing stronger. When he didn't respond I clapped my hands together loudly and he looked at me right in the eyes and shook his head. He gave Sookie a look before heading out into the night.

"It's strange the effect your blood is having on him. It's like fairy blood. Vampires can't resist fairy blood." Sookie said still looking out the front door.

"I'm not a fairy." I said with a chuckle. She turned towards me and leaned against the frame of the entry.

"Are you something other than human? I've never seen a vampire act that way over blood. I've experienced a hungry vampire but Bill barely got a hold of himself. When we walked in and found you on the floor, there wasn't a lot of blood spilled but enough that he caught the scent. I saw the look in his eyes and he immediately went into the other room and told me he couldn't go in where you were. He said he would drain you dry."

"I think I am…" She was about to jump in and ask one of her billion questions, so I held a hand up at her to stop. "I don't know what I might be though. So don't even ask, I don't have any answers yet. I seriously doubt he would've been able to drain me dry though." I chuckled at the thought. "He would've been rolling on the floor after the first swallow." I have her a slight grin with that.

"How do you know that he would've? He could barely tolerate being in the other room. I'm not sure he would've had the strength for restraint." She asked with her brows furrowed. This put her in deep thought.

"Apparently my blood burns. I don't know for sure but I think the burn would make him back off. Eric, well, I had to shove him off." Her eyes got really wide at hearing that. "But he had only one gulp. He wasn't there long and his reaction to my blood leave me to believe that Bill wouldn't been able to handle swallowing too much." She looked somewhat shocked and she was looking at my neck for signs that Eric had indeed fed from me.

"Eric fed from you? Did he force himself on you? I know he left my house the other day in anger. I don't see any marks though."

"I heal quickly." I chuckled at the look on her face. She looked so confused and I couldn't blame her. If only she was as confused as me. "He didn't force, I let him."

"I wish I knew what is going on. Maybe I could help." She had a sweet look on her face.

"No offense but I don't want you to help. I wont let you risk getting hurt. I really don't know what's going on and look what it did to me alone." I pointed to the floor. "I appreciate you saying that though and I appreciate you being here. I take it you got my apology." I said with a grin.

She smiled back at me. "Yeah I wanted to talk to you about it and when you didn't answer your door I became a little worried. I walked in and saw…" She paused and looked at the floor. After a hard swallow she continued. "Saw you on the floor. Not a lot of blood but there was also vomit and you looked broken. Your eyes were bleeding." She swallow hard again. "It's hard to believe your standing in front of me now after what I saw."

"Sorry you had to see it. Thanks again, I mean that." I had grabbed her upper arm gently and gave a light squeeze. She nodded. "You better head home, change and get cleaned up. I really could use some rest. Let me know if Bill is alright." She nodded again.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" She said as she was heading for the door. She turned and looked at me. I didn't know what to tell her and shrugged my shoulders.

"Probably not, Sookie. I gotta figure this out and I have something coming up tomorrow night. Maybe I'll see you soon." I felt bad for the look on her face but she nodded and walked out of the house closing the door behind her. I immediately went to grab some towels and some cleaning products to clean up the kitchen. Then once that was spotless, I headed for the shower.

Standing under the hot stream of water felt so good, so relaxing. I felt the muscles in my body loosen and I began to feel little better overall. I was so exhausted though that I could very possibly fall asleep in the shower. After I finished cleaning myself up I got out and dried off then did the usual brushing of the hair and teeth. I might have been tired but I went into my room to find some clothes to wear, I needed to see Eric. Strangely he's become the only one I can really talk to about what is going on. I pulled on a pair of fitted jeans and a fitted shirt. As I was heading out of my bedroom I slipped my feet into a pair of leather flip flips and didn't bother checking my appearance in the mirror. I am sure it's not a pretty sight. When I reached the kitchen, a chill came over me and I had goosebumps all over. With a shudder I walked into the kitchen and grabbed my bag and pulled my keys out. The drive to Fangtasia didn't take that long considering that I floored it all the way there, even with as much that was rolling around in my head I was afraid of falling asleep at the wheel. I pulled into the parking lot and checked the time on my cell that was sitting in the passenger seat, well, no wonder the place ain't all that busy yet… it's only 10:30.

Pam, the sidekick, gave me a funny look as I walked passed her but she made no attempts to stop me. All she did was tell those that were groaning in line to shut up. The blaring music in the club hurt my ears and but the dim lights helped the headache that I could feel coming on. I was starting to feel weird again so I moved through the crowd even faster and made my way down the hallway and barged right into Eric's office. I slammed the door behind me, not on purpose, and threw my bag down on the couch. My hands went up to my head as I began rubbing my now burning eyes. I heard a female voice faintly saying something so I turned to look at the woman. I could barely understand what she was saying but it was something along the lines of _what the hell are you doing barging in here?_ Since I didn't care for the woman's presence or words I turned my attentions to Eric, whom was seated on the edge of his chair with a very worried look on his face. My vision was starting to get blurry and I was starting to feel even more faint, I grabbed my forehead and wiped the sweat away that was forming there.

"Who the hell is this chick?" Yeah I have priorities. Here I am about to have another seizure like episode and all I can do is be pissy at the fact that some hot chick is sitting on the corner of his desk and rather close to him. The hot chick was just about to open her mouth with some kind of retort, I'm sure, but Eric silenced her and motioned for her to leave. He moved from his chair very quickly and gently grabbed my face in his big hands. He was looking at me intently but I couldn't be super sure as my vision was completely starting to black out. My legs were starting to become wobbly under me and I felt his long strong arms wrap around me. I could hear his voice but I couldn't make out what he was saying. It was like he was talking underwater to me.

Then it happened, my legs buckled and sharp pains struck up and down my spine. I let out a monstrous scream and my body went completely limp. I felt no pain at that moment but I couldn't move anything, not even my pinky finger. The crushing pain that went through my spine must have broken it and now I am paralyzed. My head was swarming and I could feel the intense pain behind my eyes once again, I could literally feel the nerve pop before my vision went completely. All that followed was a wetness coming from my eyes, heavier than tears so I must be bleeding again from the eyes. Everything went black and I was back in the pit with the _demons_ staring at me with that same wonder. Well, guys… looks like your _Lord_ is back for another visit.

The same red eyed demon that spoke to me before was in front of me again. That same sinister dark creepy voice rang through the air when he spoke to me.

"My Lord… this human seems to be quite the problem for you. Are you having much trouble taking over her?" He didn't seem to realize that he was talking to _this human._ Then a voice came from deep within in me, it sound similar to Red except there was a different level of command to it. It definitely wasn't me that chose to speak at this moment.

"Yes, she has been troublesome. It is a good thing, a weaker human wouldn't survive this process."

"Then you chose wisely My Lord." It's like the Lord within me and Red were talking as if I wasn't present. Ummm… _Lord_… you are in my body!

"Indeed. She had a predisposition for this, which is why I chose her. She already had a powerful force within her and becoming one with her will only make me more powerful." Oh, it's always a power issue isn't it? So, it's clear that this demon lord sought me out. It was obviously looking for a person _worthy_ of taking over and apparently I was the lottery winner. Special.

"Are you meaning her senses of humanity?"

"Yes." We looked up in the dark sky at that moment and I felt my shoulders shaking and head started rocking back and forth on my neck. "The trouble is, she has some connections in her world. _Powerful_ connections that must be taken care of before I can conquer her." We were still looking up and I felt the blackness starting to pull in on us.

My eyes shot open and I felt panic surging through me as I tried to sit up but something was holding me down and in place. I looked up at Eric whom was hovering over me with an indescribable look on his gorgeous face, it was his strong hands that were holding me in place.

"Don't move just yet. Your spinal cord was severed. Give yourself a few minutes to get acclimated." He spoke softly and I might be sensing a level of concern in his voice.

"Water…" My voice was incredibly hoarse once again and I was very thirsty, I could drink the ocean at this moment. He released me and went to the little fridge behind his desk and grabbed a bottle of water from it. He handed me the water and helped me sit up as I was still very shaky. He had a towel in his hand and was wiping my face, neck, and chest clean. I had vomited again but it was somewhat reddish in color, I panicked for a quick moment. I realized that if it was indeed my blood Eric would have a much harder time with our close proximity. Maybe it was his blood. I had downed the bottle of water in record time and requested more. He brought me a few more bottles and set them on the couch next to me. I downed those fairly fast as well and he shook his head at me.

"Take it easy, don't gorge yourself. Are you feeling alright? Whatever that was, it was pretty bad." There was mix of confusion and concern on his face and maybe a slight look of helplessness. I'm sure what unfolded in front of him was odd and he didn't know what to do. At least if I go into it, I can still be pulled out at this point.

"Is this your blood?" My throat still hurt a bit when I spoke but it was getting better, thankfully I heal pretty quickly.

"I didn't know what to do. Your back was broken and you went from convulsions to tremors to being completely still. It was as if you were… dead. I shoved my wrist in your mouth, and let the blood flow down your throat. I hoped my blood would give you some strength or heal you in some way. I thought you were dead but then you vomited up my blood and you were breathing very faintly."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for helping me. This happened earlier today which is why I came to see you." His eyes widened slightly and he looked down at the floor.

"What is happening? Do you have any idea of what is going on with you when this happens?" He met my eyes again, he seemed to be having a hard time taking this all in. I imagine it must be hard for a dude that's been around for a thousand years to be facing something unknown.

"I go to hell. Well… some form of it, I think. It's the same place I went to years ago when I died. It's a very black place and it reeks something awful but the people there… err demons are beautiful. They have these creepy eyes and they would move away from me as I walked through them, it was a strange gesture."

"How so?" His eyes were a little squinty and his brow was furrowed, he was deep in thought.

"It was like it was out of respect or something… and they would bow their heads. They seemed weary of making eye contact. There was one demon that spoke to me, he had red eyes and the most sinister voice. The first time he spoke to me he said _my lord_. The second time was the same but I got a lot further in conversation then." I met his eyes and I couldn't describe the look on his face. "This _Lord_ is within me and it's trying to take over my body. It chose me because of my strange little gift that existed beforehand and will be even more powerful because of it." He got up from the floor in front of me and started pacing back and forth in front of his desk, rubbing his chin. Then he stopped and looked at me.

"This is not good Tristan." I chuckled not because I thought he was wrong or because anything was funny, it just came out.

"That's not even the worst of it. It is aware of everything. It told it's minion that I have powerful connections here and they need to be taken care of before it can conquer me." I shook my head just at a complete loss.

"Meaning…"

"Meaning you. Whom else? You are a very old powerful vampire that has been helping me somewhat. You've told me you are going to help me… it is very aware of that. It's probably not safe for me to see you again Eric." He took a step closer to me and had a displeasing look on his face, he wasn't happy to hear me say that.

"I can handle myself and I can handle whatever _it_ can throw at me." There's the Viking in him coming forward and talking so tough. Men!

"Maybe you didn't hear me…" I stood up from the couch, now getting a little frustrated and took a few steps towards him. "It's not just any demon or possession. This thing and I are fused together, we are one. And it's a _Lord." _My voice was stern and steady.

He scoffed slightly and gave me a get real look. "_We are one?_ Are you letting the _Lord _speak for you now?" I took another step towards him, he was making me very agitated with this behavior. "And look at yourself, you're having a very hard time controlling it. Tristan… you need to remember that _it_ needs you to come into this world. It can only get here if you let it win. You must continue to fight." I felt myself relax a little, he was right. I was getting worked up over him talking about _it._ I think I know where that reaction was coming from.

"You're right, I need to control this thing. I'm just not sure how, it's in every part of me and it took it's time doing it. The last six years it has worked itself into every part of my body and mind. I can't feel myself anymore without feeling it there as well. I just don't understand… why now? Why wait six years to surface?"

"Because you are strong. It took it that much amount of time to conquer your gift and now it's trying to take the rest of you. Don't let it. You said once that you wanted to bring the world to it's knees, that was _it_ talking. Imagine what it would do if it was set free in this world." He was looking in a far off place as he spoke, I'm sure there were parts of him in deep thought trying to figure something that could be done.

"Okay… but how exactly do I stop a _Hell God _on a mission?"


	8. Awakening

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait for this chapter! It was hard to get a good solid chunk of time to sit down and work on this, the real world out there kind of got in the way a bit.

Thank you to all that have been reading this story!! Also, thank you to all of those that have been leaving reviews and sending comments!! You friggin' rock!! Thank you to everyone that has put this story or myself on their alerts and/or favorites!!

Enjoy the new chapter... finally!

~Alec Ramsey

* * *

**8. Awakening**

"**I have control of a history untold and it begins with the father of sin. ****I lose control as the story unfolds… it has been like a knife to bare skin. I walk alone in the garden of stone and I turn into the monster within. I walk alone like a king with no throne and I burn up from the monster within. Life is too long for me."**

It was early in the night and the sun was just beginning to set in the sky. Eric was stirring a little in his bed, just beginning to wake up. The room was very dark as there were no windows, it was to keep the light out. The room was large but not over the top with décor and lavish items. Eric was in the center of his king size bed and sat up slowly, feeling that something was off. He looked at the young woman sitting in a chair at the far side of the room, against the wall. She was staring at him and was unmoving. The room was absolutely still and dead silent except for his excellent hearing picking up on the faint sounds of her breathing. Even in the dark he recognized her, he can see perfectly as if all the lights were on. He could recognize her sent anywhere, he has come to know it well lately. Her eyes continued to stare at him without blinking, she looked as though she could set him on fire this very moment with just her _dark _stare. He knew this might be a possibility, he knew this might happen if he brought her back here but he didn't want her to be alone.

"Tristan…" Eric spoke slowly.

"Vampire… if you want your life spared then you might want to reconsider your position in helping her." The voice that came from her body was not her own, not the voice Eric knew. The voice was low and evil, just the tone threatened violence. Eric moved to the foot of the bed and sat there with his feet on the floor and a sheet pulled over his lap.

"Oh really? What would my options be?" Eric spoke coolly and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't scared in the least by this creature's threat, he's faced many in his years that referred to themselves as _the big bad._

"It's simple. You live or you die." Her eyes never broke from him, she continued to stare in the same unblinking fashion. The words were careless as they came out, there was no weight behind them what-so-ever. It was like she was talking about library books.

"Hmmm…" He said as he rubbed his chin. "So, you're threatening me." It wasn't a question Eric was making, it was a statement that he knew very well to be true. "If I continue you to help Tristan, you'll find some way to kill me." Eric paused and gave her a sinister look of his own. "You should be aware that that will be no simple task." Eric smirked at the thought of a brutal fight, he always loved a fight. "If I let you win… let you take over her… you'll what? Let me live." He chuckled.

No reaction played on her face, she was still as ever. She was still breathing faintly in the same matter as she was before, apparently it wasn't going to be easy to rile this one up. "Must be your vampire ways that is making you so foolish. Foolish to think that you could stand in a fight with me. This is beginning to look like the stoic last stand of a dying man."

Eric sat in silence for a few moments as he wasn't sure what to say, she couldn't be baited and was it becoming very clear that she wouldn't waste time in ripping him apart. He had to choose his words carefully because Tristan was still in there somewhere. In his silence and thoughts, she chose to speak again.

"You told Tristan last night that you think I could be exorcised. Whom has that kind of power to do so?" She paused and there was a very slight movement at the corner of her mouth. She was wearing a fraction of a smirk as she found it laughable that this vampire even dare to challenge her. "I'm not speaking of magic's or spells or chants, I speak of a physical power. Are you aware of the kind of strength it would take to move me?" Her eyebrow raised slightly in question. Eric was noticing the slight reactions and movements to her face, this was a game to her. She truly believes that she cannot be beaten, it's laughable that anyone would dare try.

"I am over a thousand years old as a vampire, in my world… time equals power. I believe that I am more than enough of a match for whatever you can dish out." Eric said with a low growl, he didn't like being talked down to and he didn't like being toyed with.

"Over a thousand years… time equals power… a match…" She was slowly repeating parts of what Eric had just said, almost as though she didn't understand the meanings of the words… almost. "That means nothing to me."

Eric stood up and took a couple of steps toward her and spoke with menace in his voice. "I could make it mean something."

"Sit back down vampire. I am not ready to watch you burn just yet." She waved her hand at him, ordering him to sit back on the bed where he was before. Eric stood his ground as he wasn't going to be pushed around by some _thing_ that thought she ruled on this plane. She hadn't even beat the human yet, the one she was trying to occupy.

Her voice boomed through the room and filled every space. It wasn't a yell or a holler, it just rang out as a commanding voice and snapped in the air. "Sit." Eric glared at her still but a feeling washed over him as he watched her uncross her leg and lean forward slightly, a slight tingle ran over his skin. "If you wont seat yourself, I can make you." She said as a dangerous smile spread on her lips. Eric huffed and took a few steps back, he didn't want to turn his back to her, not even for a second. He titled his head slightly as he looked at her and with a flash of movement from him he had flicked the light switch on the wall. What sat in the chair stunned him, he was expecting something hideous or some big change so that when he looked at her he didn't Tristan. From the moment he first laid eyes on her the first time they met, he was attracted to her and he wanted her in many ways. As his eyes roamed over her he couldn't find one change except for her eyes, they were black. They were the blackest eyes he had ever seen, every part of her open eyes was pitch black in color. The deep blue was gone and even the whites of her eyes were gone, leaving darkness in its wake. A realization hit him at that moment, seeing her face and seeing the slight transformation rocked him a little bit. He knew now that she was doomed, if Tristan manages to survive she will never be the same. She may be better or she may be worse but she'll never be as beautiful as she is now.

Eric was pulled from his thoughts and his roaming eyes as he felt the tingle getting stronger, it was starting to feel like little needles all over his skin. The feeling is very similar to when your foot falls asleep. He met her eyes and it was clear that this sensation on his skin was being caused by her, he did find it odd because it was nothing to really hurt him. Maybe she was just showing that she didn't even have to touch him to affect him. Eric made his way over to the foot of the bed and sat back down on the edge where he had been before. Once he was settled and had replaced the sheet over his lap she spoke again.

"Your maker was two thousand years old, nearly twice as old as you. Maybe the two of you together would have had a slight chance in moving me. Shame for you and your mission on saving this woman that your maker is gone." She spoke with out any feeling or inflections in her voice. She was back to her same monotone speech.

"How do you know about him?" Eric asked feeling his anger rise again. How dare this creature have the audacity to bring up his now deceased maker.

"I know a lot of things. I know he chose to die as he couldn't stand being in this world anymore." For the first time she moved her eyes over Eric, not really to check him out in a sexual manner, it was more like she was checking the physical signs of his reaction to this subject of conversation. Then her stare was back as she continued to speak. "Godric was a coward. I could have offered him a beautiful death had he earned it." Eric was working overtime to control himself at the sound of Godric's name to her voice. She had no right to speak his name.

"Godric was a coward because he wanted to leave a world that he grew tired of? Two thousand years is a long time for anything or anyone to exist. He became changed of the world around him." Eric paused and gave her an icy glare. "It would be wise for you to never speak his name again."

"Your threats are boring me. It would be wise for you stop throwing them around carelessly. You are only digging your grave deeper." Her words came quick and he could tell that he had struck some kind of cord there, there was some agitation playing on her face. "I will speak anyone's name whenever I choose to." She gave him a challenging look, slightly leaning forward in her chair… daring him to say anything. Eric kept silent for the moment and she continued to speak. "Two thousand years is nothing but the blink of an eye to me." She smirked. "Does that give your _time equals power_ statement any meaning now? I've been around long enough to see many of your kind come and go, your breed was strong enough to stand the tests of time and evolution."

"My breed?" Eric was confused. He knew that her being some sort of God meant that she was very old, her age and status both meant immense power. He couldn't understand what she was meaning right then. Were there other types of vampires?

"Yes, your breed. Don't be so foolish to think that you were the only ones. Look at the different races of humans…" She smirked again and he was started to wish she had just stayed expressionless. It was hard for him to see her use this human face with her actions. "You never thought of the possibility that there was another race of vampire?"

"Never seen or heard of one so why would I ever think of that. Being around just over a thousand years you would think I would've caught wind of something." He said carelessly, like it should be an obvious answer to her question.

"But you have heard the stories, no?" She cocked an eyebrow slightly and watched him think it over. Eric was truly beginning to realize what this _meeting_ was all about, a display of power. He had heard the stories that she was referring to but they were considered fables. Tristan had told him that night before that this God was aware of him and his trying to help, he certainly remembers Tristan saying that he was talked of as a powerful connection that needed to be taken care of. This makes sense with her opening statement from the evening.

"Yes I have heard the stories but they've always been considered fables or legends or silly romantic stories that people write about in books. Those vampires have never been known to be real to us." Eric stated matter of factly.

"Maybe they have never been known to you for a reason. They had their own world and structure and had no interest in becoming known to your kind or mixing with you. No matter now… they've been wiped off this Earth." There was still no connect to her voice, she had no emotion mixed with anything that she said for the most part.

"Who are you? What are you? Why are you here? Why now?" Eric figured he should go for it and ask the questions that have been begging to be asked.

"Sculacious." Was all she said and she let it roll over him. He did recognize the name as it was connected to the "fairytales" and legends of the supposed other breeds of vampire.

"Sculacious… as in the one responsible for wiping out the supposed other races?" He spoke cautiously. If there was any truth to those stories then he might have a lot more to fear.

"You do know the stories. You still don't seem quite convinced." She reached in her pocket at that moment and pulled out what looked to be a leather necklace band, it had two white fangs dangling from it. She tossed it at Eric, he caught it easily and felt a little sick to his stomach looking them over. "You should notice the size of those, they were the Queen's. Also, notice the different shape. Their fangs extended from a different place than yours, from the K9 position." She smirked again as Eric continued to look over the fangs carefully, taking in every detail. Everything about them seemed real. "Convinced yet?"

"Answer my other questions." He said as he tossed to fangs back to her. She placed them back in her pocket.

"What am I? Hmmm… demons is what we are but I am from a different dimension, not this human dimension. Don't confuse me with those demons." She seemed almost disgusted at the thought of being compared to them. "I am here for obvious reasons but I was biding my time until I found that The Jury was after Tristan. That should answer your question for why now. The Jury will not have her, she is mine and they will all burn." Her voice actually rang emotion, there was an inflection of anger but also of possession.

"This is why you are here tonight, you pushed yourself forward because you knew that Tristan is meeting with The Jury tonight. Why would they be a threat to a God like you?"

"They are a threat because of what they want with her. Tristan doesn't know much but I've known of them for a long time. I will not hesitate to take every last one of them out. I used a lot of power to pull her into my world when that vampire killed her years ago, she would have survived either way but I took the opportunity to fuse myself with her. She had a special gift… a gift that demons are drawn to." She paused and shifted her head from side to side, cracking her neck in the process. "She had the ability to sense human souls, she was able to sense the levels of humanity in a person. In the human world, the demons and angels that walk amongst them are at war for souls. Who wouldn't pay a pretty penny for what she was capable of, she would have been the check mate to which ever side got her and would've helped them win the war of chess that they are playing with human souls."

"So, you are trying to tell me that you have jumped in to help her?" Eric almost jumped out his ordered sitting position with the ludicrous ideas she was trying to present.

"No, I am not jumping in on anything. Her ability was absorbed when I fused with her, there's always a huge sacrifice with doing something like that. I am here on this Earth for other reasons than the battle for souls, human souls mean nothing to me. She gave me great power in fusing with her, while I didn't absorb her ability I did gain a stronger sense in this world. Any other time I have tried fusing, it never worked as the human wasn't strong enough but she gives me the great power of being able to walk in this world. I have walked amongst you all for six years and I went undetected until I heard about The Jury." She paused briefly and tilted her head to the side a little. "Luca was stalking her three years ago, I knew he was there… you guys can't hide from me. He had told The Jury everything he could find to know about her and they gained an interest. They have no idea her gift doesn't exist anymore but they were planning to use her as tribute… a gift… to the underworld and demons they so worship.""It was you that killed Luca then? Was that your first step in trying to protect her from The Jury?" Eric was a bit surprised at how much she was sharing with him but as long as she would talk, he would ask questions.

"I gave Tristan the strength to kill him but no I didn't kill him. The Jury only became more intrigued with her once they learned of his disappearance. It was then that they started to believe that maybe there was something more with her, that maybe Luca was right. I first started working my way out the first night _you_ mentioned them and that they were coming to see her."

"You're going to kill them? All of them?"

"Yes, there's no way they will not know about her once they see her. They will sense me inside. They have a _seer_ in their group, this seer is not a vampire but is part fairy. This is not the type of seer that sees visions, this one can see _markings_ in your blood and can tell what you are made of. This seer would be able to look at Sookie Stackhouse and know that she has fairy in her blood and this seer would look at Tristan and see some very old demon in her blood. Well, not just some, he would see a lot of powerful blood surging through her." Eric flinched slightly at hearing Sookie's name, he wasn't too surprised that she knew of Sookie but he was surprised to find out that Sookie has a little fairy blood in her. It says a lot for her power that she could sense Sookie's fairy blood herself.

"They wouldn't be able to take you anyway, how can a group of vampires stop you?" Eric said in thought, he did like that she was in some ways helping Tristan but then she was only helping Tristan to help herself out further down the line.

"No they couldn't take me, but they could spread word and demons could come after me or even angels. Since my transformation isn't complete, they do have a chance in exorcising me, they have enough power to do so."

"You don't think the demons and angels would come after you anyway, once they realize what happened to The Jury?"

"The Jury may worship demons…" She paused and looked Eric over carefully. "Demons don't care about vampires, you are lost souls to them. You are neither good nor evil to them, like humans you are a mixture of both. When you die your soul goes to wherever it was headed, whether that be good or bad. Demons simply don't care enough about your existence, you are meaningless to them. You don't help them in their war, if anything you both help _and_ hinder them. It is considered a sin for a human to offer themselves to a creature of the night so you help in tainting their souls but when you kill them before they have a chance for their collect, you lessen their numbers. They would come after me once hearing that there is a demon of my magnitude in this plane, angels would come after me as well and both would try to destroy me. Either way it's definite death for Tristan." Eric was reeling slightly as the situation only seems to be getting worse, it doesn't seem as though there is any way out for Tristan and any idea that he had as far as getting this demon out of her doesn't seem strong enough.

"You've made references of me being a threat to you… how come I'm still sitting here in one piece?"

"For two reasons… I need to you to get me to the meeting with The Jury. They'll know immediately something is off if you weren't there, it would be much more simple to handle them with the element of surprise."

Eric studied her hard, looking for any traces of Tristan in there but he could find none at the moment. "And the other reason?"

"I've killed a million petty souls, so to say… but I can't kill you. Not yet at least. I suppose it's her feelings holding me back. She doesn't love you but she feels something strong for you. Plus… you've had my blood. I can smell it on you."

Eric stood up, not sure exactly what to make of the night so far. He was very uneasy being in her presence, especially since it was Tristan's face. All he wanted to do was rip her limb from limb and pull Tristan out in some way. He wasn't sure what the comment about him having her blood meant but he wasn't too keen to know at the moment. "I have to get ready, we have to be at Fangtasia in an hour." All she did was wave him off and he slipped into the bathroom for a shower. Sculacious got up from the chair she been sitting in and stretched, pretty soon this human body will be a lot stronger. She was angry that the human had manage to hold her off at half way so far. With just a bit more time….

Twenty minutes later Eric walked into the front room of his house to find her standing there, hands clasped together in front of her and unmoving like a statue. She was almost vampire-like in her stillness and Eric found it a bit unnerving. He moved to the front door and she followed in silence as they walked out to his _little red corvette_. Without any words she walked to the passenger side of the car and got in, he got in on the drivers side and started the car up. They quickly drove to Fangtasia and Eric was growing restless, this God whom had wiped out a vampire race single handedly was sitting next to him so casually. This God had no problems sitting in his car after she had insulted his maker, calling him a coward. He would very much like to rip her head off with his bare hands for that comment. She was taking over the woman and the body that he had such a longing to get to know. What upset him the most… he didn't know how to save her and for the first time ever he didn't feel strong enough to defeat an adversary. He had never faced a god before but he knew what her blood felt like running through his veins. He should have known it the other day, when he walked in the sun, what he was dealing with. Of course the blood of a God would have the power to do something like that and he felt stronger than he ever had in his existence. _Her blood…_

The car came to a screeching halt in the Fangtasia parking lot and they both sat in silence in the car for a few moments. There were a lot of things that Eric wasn't sure of at the moment. He had planned ahead for this night and the bar was closed, only Pam waited inside for him. He wasn't sure what would happen with The Jury and her being in the same room, he was worried of the damage that might come to Tristan's body. He knew he could no longer give her his blood as her body wont except it anymore, though Sculacious's blood was strong within her and he was sure that she wouldn't want any harm coming to Tristan. She still very much _needed _Tristan. He saw her looking at him out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to meet her gaze.

"You are still thinking of ways to save her aren't you?" Eric could only nod, what was there to say? Should he ask for pointers? "You know… you shouldn't look me in the eyes the way you do. I let you get away with it now because I am not able to _really_ hurt you just yet, but there will come a day." Her voice was cold and she gave him a challenging look but he still did not look away, he'll deal with that day when it comes but for now he was able to get away with a lot with this God.

"Why is that? Why shouldn't I look you in the eyes?" Eric said with annoyance in his voice. He's a sheriff and not used to being treated as an underling.

"You are beneath me, that's why." She then easily got out of the car and shut the door softly and Eric quickly followed suit, though he slammed his door shut. He wanted to put his hands on her so bad that his body was aching from holding back, he only was beneath one and that was his Queen. Even then he was slightly older than his Queen and treated with a certain respect. She was giving him and odd look, almost as if she was reading his mind. "Vampires… you have such superiority complex's." She said as she started walking from the car to the front doors of Fangtasia, Eric let out a sigh as he followed. When they got to the doors he pushed past her and walked in, he didn't bother holding the door open for her. It was her turn to follow him. They made their way up to the bar where Pam was leaning against it.

"I don't believe that you've ever officially met… Pam this is…" Eric was cutoff by her and her tone let him know she was displeased.

"Introductions are not necessary, I know whom your sidekick is." Eric looked at her hard, he was getting even more angry with her attitude. Then for the first time since this awful night began he noticed that her eyes were back to her normal dark blue color. He looked at her curiously and wondered…

"Tristan?" He took a step towards her and spoke softly.

"It's just a pretty disguise… don't want to give anything away. Remember… element of surprise?" Eric groaned loudly in his displeasure, he thought he had her back for a moment and looking at her now was even more difficult.

The front door to the bar swung open just then and nine men and four women walked in, twelve of them vampires and one part fairy. Eric took a few steps forward to meet the group in the middle of the room, Pam flanked his side and _she_ sat back on one of the barstools. A glimmer played in her eyes and the corners of her mouth curved upwards slightly, she was going to enjoy this. The man whom appeared to be in charge stood slightly out in front of the rest, they all had his back and there was one that hung back.

"Sheriff Eric Northman…" He spoke slowly and removed the hood from his head to reveal curly brown hair that fell to his broad shoulders, he was dwarfed by Eric's imposing height and size. He could have only been about five feet and ten inches tall but he seemed to have a fit body and looked like he could handle himself in a fight, not that anyone was measuring him up. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us. Is that Tristan Nomak at the bar?"

"Yes." Was all Eric said in response, you could feel the tension in his voice and it didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room. "You must be Jared." Jared nodded and waived to the guy that had been hanging back, when he reached Jared and Eric he stared towards Tristan. His eyes widened and he started moving towards her.

"Albey, you must wait…" Spoke Jared but Albey did not stop and _Tristan _stood up from her stool. In a flash Eric moved right in front of her and gave both Jared and Albey a frightening look.

Eric's voice was harsh as he spoke. "You better pull your man back Jared or I will snap his neck! You forget that I am a Sheriff and no matter what your beliefs are… I still govern you. I will have your head on a platter if you do not obey me." Jared was nodding emphatically and grabbed a hold of Albey's arm. "This meeting is only for you to question her, nothing else." Eric commanded.

"Yes Sheriff, we have no intention of causing any problems." He said quickly to Eric before turning to Albey. "Albey you must follow my orders here and keep yourself contained, I have not asked you to examine her just yet. We are to question first and then you can get a look at her."

"We never talked about anyone getting a look at her. Who is this Albey character you have with you Jared?" Eric asked angrily.

"Albey is special, he will be able to tell us if she is lying or not after we question her about Luca. He will simply place a hand on her, nothing else. I promise no harm will come to this human." Jared said trying to sooth Eric.

"We never agreed on anyone touching her or reading for truths. You ask and she'll answer honestly, that's how this will go. End of discussion." Eric demanded.

Eric stepped aside and _Tristan_ was visible again, she had not moved and she was perfectly calm. The glitter was still in her eyes and she smiled as Albey continued to stare at her heavily. Albey's jaw fell open.

"What are you?" He asked as he fell to his knees and Jared looked at him in surprise. Eric looked to _Tristan _and saw the glint in her steady eyes as she continued to stare, he tried to reach out to break her intent stare on Albey but he found he couldn't move his arm when he tried. He was about to open his mouth to speak when he smelt fairy blood in the air. He turned his gaze back to Albey and saw blood oozing from his nose, Albey had a look of extreme pain on his face and he started turning red as he wasn't breathing. Then he stared coughing and blood started spurting from his mouth, he found the strength to utter one word before he met his demise.

"_Sculacious…"_" He said between choking breaths and then hollered loudly when her hand went through his chest. She wrapped her fingers around his heart and ripped it back out with viciously. She tossed it on the floor and looked from Jury member to Jury member angrily… hungrily. All Eric could do was watch as he was frozen in place.

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**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The chapter wasn't written in first person because Tristan wasn't truly present in this chapter. I felt it was time to give y'all a taste of the monster within.

Well, let me know what ya think. Good or bad... leave a review or send a comment!

Thanks for reading!


	9. Devour

**9. Devour**

**"I will devour you, take all the pain away. I cannot stay my hand from reaching out so that I can empower you for all eternity. It seems to ease my mind to know that you've brought meaning to my life."**

The silence in the room was deafening and everything was perfectly still. Even though he was free to do so at this point, Eric couldn't compel himself to move or even flinch. He stood there in the black room and searched the scene. He stared in awe at the torn up bodies of vampires that covered the floor, he saw first hand the power of the God that is Sculacious. He found her in the room sitting quietly in one of the booths along the wall, even though he had no problems seeing in the pitch dark there was no mistaking her. Her eyes were glowing a brilliant hell fire red and it sent a surprising shudder down his spine. Her voice, even though it was just barely an octave above a whisper seemed to echo throughout the club.

"You fear me now don't you vampire?

Eric was caught off guard by her question, he wasn't really sure that it was one that he needed to answer. It was almost as if she was saying it as confirmation. He looked at her and her red eyes were boring into his and he could see that she had the same placid look on her face that she had during their talk before making it to Fangtasia. There was not one ounce of care or remorse that she had just slaughtered twelve powerful vampires in a matter of minutes in such a brutal way. Normally he would find this kind of brutality admirable but this beast wore Tristan's face as she made quick disgusting work of The Jury.

"What have I told you about your eye contact with me?" Her voice sounded in the room again pulling him from his thoughts. He could see the smirk on her face, if he didn't like that face so much he'd find a way to smack that smirk off.

"I will not bow down or cower to you. You are not my lord." Eric stated strongly, straightening himself out to look proud and confident. Her smirk grew into a smile at seeing this and the fact that he seemed to be challenging her by continuing to stare into her eyes. She didn't even move a finger but somehow Eric felt his body being pulled forward, stopping to the side of her next to the booth. Then he felt himself being pushed down into a kneeling position and he groaned at the feeling of his body being so roughly pushed around against his will. He looked up at her angrily but she was looking off elsewhere.

"It is so foolish for you to try to deny my wishes, you are merely a puppet to me. I can do what ever I wish with you, as you can see." She turned her head back to look at him again, her red eyes screamed murder at him. "Except I cannot kill you…" She paused and reached out to brush a chunk of hair off his forehead and to Eric's surprise he liked the feeling of _Tristan's_ fingers on his skin at this moment. He knew where the gentle gesture was coming from within Sculacious. "Yet." She finished as she brought her hand back to rest on the table in front of her. Not that he needed the air but Eric took a deep breath when he felt the release on his body and stood up. He took the seat across from Sculacious and almost regretted it immediately when she reached forward with speed quicker than his own and grabbed his hand, he felt the bones crush in her grip. He let a hiss escape his lips as the pain ravaged his hand. His hand being crushed in hers was a different kind of pain, he'd been through many brutal fights both as human and vampire. This crushing seemed to hurt the most and he felt his hand start to repair itself as she loosened the grip a bit.

"What if I offer my life in exchange for Tristan's?" He asked with a grimace as his hand was strangely still aching.

"Why would you do something like that? What is this that you feel for Tristan? You are a vampire that has been in existence for over a thousand years and now one human girl makes you want to throw it all away… doesn't make sense as you vampires are most known for your self preservation first." There was no expression on her face and no inflections in her voice, she seemed completely disconnected to the topic.

"I've been drawn to her since the moment I met her, I couldn't tell you why but I feel _protective_ of her." He said distantly as he was thinking about it for the first time, he really didn't understand his willingness to throw himself out there in exchange for her.

"Is it her blood that you feel drawn to? She does have the rarest blood type in the world."

"No. The only time I've tasted her blood… well… you were already mixed in there. I would guess it's along the lines of… hmm… she makes me feel alive. Being around as long as I have you get bored with your existence and she came along and surprised me. That's more rare than her blood type." Eric cried out momentarily as his hand was crushed once again in a vice grip. His arm was yanked forward bring him closer to her as they were both leaning forward across the table. There was a look of warning in her sinister eyes.

"Watch your tone with me boy. I will NOT tolerate your smartass condescending remarks." She growled at him. Then she released him and he cradled his hand as it began to heal itself again, the second time in less than ten minutes. "You don't need to preach about your age, you're just a baby compared to me." She said with a groan and rubbing her hand on her chest, above her beating heart. "Looks like someone is dying to make an appearance." She said with a chuckle. Eric wanted to reach across the table and rip her throat out but refrained. Tristan is trying to come back and she laughs about it. He would give his hand completely to have a few minutes with her again. He didn't like the vulnerable feelings that was giving him.

"Let her come. Let me see her again before you completely take over her." He said with a pleading tone. Sculacious smiled at this.

"Maybe what you are feeling towards her is love… hard to digest isn't it, vampire? You want her to return before I tell you how to save her?"

Eric's head shot up at the words and looked her over with a confused expression on his face. "Why would you offer up such information, it would lead to your death?"

"Just because I tell you how doesn't mean you would be able to do it. I have a feeling that this… me wanting to throw you a bone… has a lot to do with the fact that I also cannot kill you. Tristan is still trying to save herself, you see?"

"Tell me, I don't care the cost. I'll do anything, I promised to help her and I will keep my word even if it results in my death." He said quickly as he was noticing that he didn't have much time left. Tristan is strong and he could see her fighting her way back to the surface, the red eyes have faded back to the deep blue sea color. If his heart still beat, it would flutter at the sight.

"Well…" She started to say but her voice caught in her throat and she growled, it was a low and nasty sound but then she went silent. She fell forward in a lifeless manner and her head landed on the table with a dull thud. Eric desperately wanted to reach out and touch her but was wary in case Sculacious was still present.

I let out a groan as I reached out my hand and started rubbing my head with it. I felt sore all over my body, it felt like I had just been through the most strenuous work out of my life and now my body was stiff afterwards. I lifted my head off of the table slowly and blinked in the darkness, I could barely see but I knew what had happened here. I was present throughout it all, it was like I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. I tried to grab the wheel several times but my hand was always slapped away. Normally I always went to this beast's world and now she came to mine and reeked havoc on it. Though I didn't feel too bad about The Jury, her power does scare me.

The dim club lights flashed on and I blinked rapidly trying to adjust. I looked up to see Eric taking the booth seat across from me and he slowly moved a hand out to me, gently wrapping his large hand around mine.

"Tristan?" He asked cautiously.

I let out a sigh. "Yeah it's me." I said with my head hanging low. I felt exhausted but at least I wasn't feeling the extreme thirst like I had in the past. The look on Eric's face was puzzling to me at first but since I was _present _during his conversations with Sculacious I understood the relief in his eyes. I understood more about him now than I ever had, he has feelings for me and that's why he is helping me. I knew the moment we met that he wanted me sexually as it's something he never tried to disguise. I of course found him attractive in return but he made all of the moves. He has taken big steps to help me and he has kissed me, the only thing I have shown in return is jealousy. I had some not so great jealous moments over his relationship with Sookie and the woman in his office before I blacked out last time. A warm smile played on his lips as he gazed at me in a _loving_ way.

"I thought I might have lost you for good, I thought she had taken you over." He said with a sigh and rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb. "I am very worried at how strong she is getting, we really don't have much time left." He said softly as though it hurt him and had a look of concern on his face as he looked at me.

"No… I really don't have much time left but I am fighting with everything that I have." I said with a strong confident voice. I have no choice but to be strong right now, the fate of the world may very well rest on my shoulders. At that thought I felt the knot in my throat and my eyes fill up with water. A tear escaped only to be caught by Eric's sweeping caress across my cheek with his finger. We stared into each others eyes for what seemed like hours in silence but in reality it was only minutes. "Eric…" I stared to say slowly and he nodded, urging me to continue as my voice caught in my throat. "I know what has to be done."

"What do you mean?" He asked me slightly puzzled.

"I can't even begin to describe how I feel right now as I feel that the weight of the world literally rests on my shoulders." I said with a shaky voice and he captured another tear on my cheek with his finger.

"You are not alone though, I will be there with you every step of the way doing whatever I need to do to help you." He said with a look of reassurance in his eyes.

"Promise?" I asked with a raised eyebrow in question.

"Absolutely. I promise." He said cautiously as I saw a look of wariness spread over his features.

"I know she is present and can see and hear everything that I do when I am in control, she even knows my thoughts. It is the same way when she is in control, I had full access to her from the moment she took me over." I paused and took a long deep breath and Eric gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "I know what has to be done to stop her. I know what _you_ and _I_ have to do." I said with my voice trembling again. I looked at him and he was squinting his eyes at me, deep in thought apparently. His eyes opened a little wider as he looked me with a baffled expression on his face.

"Just what are you asking me to do?" He asked me with a voice filled with caution and uneasiness.

"I am not asking you yet… but… soon." I took a deep breath as I was searching for a way to ask or put the words together for what I did want to ask of him now. "There's something…" My voice caught in my throat and out of embarrassment my eyes fell to our hands, it was too hard for me to keep eye contact with him in this moment.

"Tristan…" He said and waited, when I still didn't lift my chin to make eye contact with him again I felt his finger under my chin gently lifting it up. When my eyes met his, he squinted his eyes at me. He seemed to be trying to figure out what the look in mine meant as I'm sure he could read fear in them. "What's wrong? If you have something to tell me, please do. I promised I would do anything for you." He said with a reassuring voice. The only thing that I could think about though was his last words and that he _promised_ he would do anything. I didn't want this to be because he promised and here I am… a grown woman afraid to ask him what I want. These pesky old human feelings… I doubt I could face rejection just now.

"Honestly Eric… I uh…" I let out another sigh. "I really don't know how to ask this." I said uneasily.

"I wish I had the ability to read your mind right now but unfortunately I can't. You're going to have to spit it out so that I could give you what you want." He said with a gentle smile as he rubbed my hand again with his thumb.

"Oh hell you two… Eric…" Pam said looking at him. "She wants you to go to bed with her." Then she turned her head to look at me and my now very red face. "Am I right Tristan?" She said with an arched eyebrow as she continued on her way by the booth we were sitting in. My free hand immediately covered my face as I was extremely embarrassed and I couldn't even take a glance at Eric. I would probably pass out if I did.

"I never really had the impression that you were shy." Eric said softly. I still couldn't look up at him.

"I am not really… it's just that so many thoughts and emotions are going through me at this point because of what I have to face. I never admitted to myself before tonight that I do feel something for you beyond attraction and I don't want this to be something that you would do because you _promised_ to do anything." I finally looked up to meet his eyes and he was serious, there was nothing on his face that read anything other than that. I cleared my throat and continued. "I don't have much time left and I would like one incredible experience in my life before it's gone forever. I am scared for many reasons… the last time I was with a vamp, I died. Just in general, it has been a little while since I was with a man. I am scared of being rejected, I know I am a hardass but I still feel the same as any other person out there. And now… knowing that I have feelings for you… I wanna be your lover." I held my gaze with his and he smiled slightly, it wasn't one of his cocky grins but it was warm and easy.

"I would never reject you and this isn't something I would do as a favor. I've wanted you from the moment you walked into my office. I understand your fears but trust that I would never hurt you, I can't hurt you." He said softly, his voice was barely above a whisper. "The only thing that bothers me about this is that it feels like a goodbye. I was so hollow until you came along and it _hurts_ to know that I am going to have you that way and then lose you. I never wanted to care about love but you have effected me much deeper than I ever expected and thought possible. You made this dead heart beat again… because of you I was able to walk in the sun and you forced me to respect a human in a way that I never have. When you told me your story and struggles, you surprised me and after a thousand years of thinking I saw everything there was to see… you restored my faith that there is something more out there. You amaze me and I fell for you surprisingly fast after that, I want every part of you."

We stared steadily into each others eyes for some time just processing what each other has said. He started sliding out of his side of the booth, still holding my hand and gently started pulling me up from my side. When we were standing in front of each other he leaned down planting his lips on mine, I wrapped my arms around his neck as his arms wrapped around my waist. He pulled me to him and lifted me off the floor holding onto me tightly, we deepened the kiss as I parted my lips. The kiss between us was hungry and desperate, it was almost as though we were trying to devour one another. He groaned lightly as I slid my tongue into his mouth, the sound was music to my ears and the feeling of it as it rumbled through his chest gave me chills. I could feel that we were moving but I felt like I was floating in his arms, I had no idea where he was taking me but I wasn't about to object. I heard a door open and then close, we finally broke the kiss as he set me back down on my feet. We are in his office and we stared into each other's eyes with a hungry lust. I took an unfortunate glance at the clock on the wall.

"I see that dawn is approaching. Bummer… I was really getting into that." I said with a lighthearted chuckle. Even though I wanted him I didn't to make love with him tonight, I wanted a shower and to feel refreshed… to wash Sculacious off of me. I think he felt the same way, the look on his face seemed agreeable with my thought.

He smiled at me. "Unfortunately there isn't enough time and I was more than into it." He glanced down quickly and then back up at me with a smirk, the smirk that I loved so much. I looked to what he was referring to, the bulge in his pants. i raised my eyebrows at him and spoke with a click of my tongue.

"Impressive." I said with an admiring smile. He grabbed me quickly and roughly pushed himself against me with a growl, his lips crashed onto mine. His kiss was heavy and commanding, I quickly was becoming out of breath and having trouble keeping up with him. I broke the kiss and gasped for air as he kissed along my jaw to my ear and down my neck, he let out a groan as he grinded himself against me. A light whimper escaped me as he kissed over my scar, I let out a deep breath and threw my head back as he kissed up the front of my neck and over my chin as he found my lips again. He tasted so sweet and I groaned into his mouth as I placed my hands on his face, pulling him closer to me. I felt him slow his pace on the fervent movement of his lips on mine, he placed his hands over mine as he slowed pulled them away and broke away from the kiss. He rested his forehead on mine as he gazed _lovingly_ into my eyes, that is the only way I can describe the look. He held my hands firmly in his at our sides and just gazed into my eyes longingly for a few moments. The thought of him having my blood so that he could stay awake so that we could continue is crossing my mind in this very moment but then a fear soon followed. Her blood infused with mine is even stronger now than it was before, this time it could be strong enough to hurt him. That thought kept me from suggesting it.

"I don't want you to leave but I need to go to my coffin in the back. Can you crash on the couch? I just want you near for when I wake up tomorrow evening." He said with a husky voice.

"Yeah… the couch will be fine. Do you possibly have a pillow and blanket." I said hopefully. He stood straight and smirked at me. He let go of my hands and headed out of the office only to return moments later with both items in his arms. He walked past me, giving me a wink and setting them up on the couch. He looked at me with a coy smile and patted the black leather. I walked over and looked at him quickly giving a roll of the eyes, I sat down and swung my feet up. As I lowered my back down and rested my head on the pillow he kneeled down next to me. He leaned over me and lovingly brushed his lips against mine, he lingered on my lips for a bit before standing up and heading for the door.

He opened the door and turned to look at me. "See you tomorrow evening my love. Help yourself to anything in my office or the bar." He gave me a small smile and an adoring look but I saw a bit of fear there as he turned and walked out closing the door gently behind him.

It hurt to know what I was doing to him. Now knowing what he feels for me and sometime soon… acting on our love. I was scared too but found myself extremely troubled. I couldn't find the courage to ask him to go to bed with me… so how the hell am I going to ask him to fulfill his promise? Eric fulfilling his promise is the only chance this world has of survival. I am surprised he let it slide for the time being and that he didn't press me on the matter. I was exhausted physically but my mind was rolling everything around as I couldn't stop thinking of everything that happened that night and what's to come. The scariest thing was having a look inside her head, to see the destruction she has caused in her amazingly long existence and to see her plan for this world. Getting an up close view of what she did to The Jury is nothing compared to the slaughter she plans to bring to this world. There's nothing but me to stop her.

My heart started beating faster and slower at the same time as I felt a light line of sweat break out along my hairline, my head was swirling at all the stress I am feeling. Eric better hold to his promise…

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**A/N**: Thanks to all that have been reading and reviewing. You all are awesome! Thanks to those that have added this story and/or myself to favorite and alerts. It rocks my socks!

Hit the review button and let me know your thoughts.


	10. Stranger In A Strange Land

**10. Stranger In A Strange Land**

**"Enemy of mine, I'll fuck you like the devil. Violent inside, beautiful and evil. I'm a ghost. You're an angel. If you're looking for Jesus, get on your knees. Enemy of mine, I'm just a stranger in a strange land. Running out of time. Angel or demon, I gave up my soul. I'm guilty of treason, I've abandoned control."**

Stretching and looking to the clock on the wall I sighed noticing what time it was. I had slept through the entire day, again. Damn, possession and slaughtering twelve vampire plus one fairy dude was exhausting. I sat up slowly on the leather sofa in Eric's office that I had slept on and rubbed my head. It was seven in the evening and feelings of overwhelm started moving in on me. There is so much to do, well, not really. It's more that there is so much that I want to do and I am just not sure how much time I have left. This hell god inside of me is working fast to take over and it's crippling emotionally to know what I have to do stop her.

My whole life had been struggle and torment until it ended six years ago. I thought I received a second chance and now I have nothing but regrets for how I lived my life the last six years. I kept everyone at arms length and wouldn't let anyone close. I moved around and never made any connections until I landed in Bon Temps. Strangely I became attached to a vampire but his reason's for seeing me ultimately will lead to my demise. The second he mentioned The Jury, Sculacious awoke from deep inside me where she had been hiding for the last six years.

She felt threatened that someone, meaning The Jury, would try to take what she believes is rightfully hers. Six years ago she pulled me into her world when I was dying and fused herself with me. I appealed to her because of my curse or gift, depending on how you look at it. Either way, lucky me. Right?

Last night with her taking over and me basically sitting in the passenger seat was terrifying . I had free roam of everything she was thinking and I saw what she has in store for this world. She really does want to bring the world to it's knees and watch it burn. The even scarier part about it was that I couldn't even find a reason why. It is simply because she can and once all humans are erased off of the planet she will tear a hole in the wall between our dimensions. Unleashing all of her little demon underlings.

I know it sounds like something out of a comic book or movie, the bad guy wanting to take over the world. It's just too bad that this is a reality and the bad guy is something of immense power. Luckily in that time that I had access to her thoughts and everything inside her head, I did see the only way to stop her. I have to die. It's as simple and complex as that. Since she has not fully taken over me or ascended on this plane, she is vulnerable while still in my body.

My death would have to come at the hands of a very strong person or vampire… which I was on the verge of telling Eric last night but couldn't find the strength within myself. Seeing his confessions of care and love for me through Scualcious's eyes plus his willingness to sacrifice himself, how was I supposed to ask him to kill me? I feel strongly for him as well, it may not be love but I definitely do not want to inflict any pain or torment on him. He would have to kill me while I am me as well which makes it harder. How do you look into the eyes of someone you are falling for and plunge a knife into their heart? How do you ask someone to do that type of favor for you? I know part of him would really enjoying killing Sculacious when she is present but she would be way too strong and there's no way he'd survive as she would kill him for trying. Plus the stronger she is getting within me the stronger my own body is becoming. I mean, someone could probably bust a bottle over my head right now and it wouldn't even leave a scratch. If it did, no matter as I heal quite quickly. So I need someone of his strength to thrust a knife into my chest.

I shook my head to try and shake the daunting thoughts away, doesn't work but it made me feel a little better. I stood up and headed out of Eric's office and headed down the hall to find a bathroom and sure enough there was a small one a few doors down on the left. I took care of business and then washed my hands and splashed water on my face. The paper towels were rough but that's all that was available to pat my face dry.

Looking in the mirror the sight disgusted me. I didn't look like my normal natural self and I knew the reason for that. I looked more beautiful than ever and I was never one to gloat about myself but I always knew that I was pleasing to look at. Now I see what Sculacious is responsible for as my skin looks perfect and practically glowing. My eyes look brighter and my hair looked thicker and more radiant. Even though I haven't showered since the day before yesterday, despite my dirty clothes, I looked incredible and fresh.

With a huff I tossed the paper towel into the waste basket and left the bathroom. I walked down the hall to the door that opened to the club area. I wasn't to surprised to see Eric and Pam already awake. They were talking across the room in a booth and they both turned their heads to look at me curiously. Most likely trying to figure if I was myself or not.

I sighed and raised my hands up slightly in a dismissive gesture. "It's me…" The looks on their faces didn't change. "Tristan." I decided to add hoping that would offer some sort of relief and thankfully it worked. Eric gracefully slid out of the booth turned to say something to Pam in that beautiful old Swedish language before walking over to me.

He looked down at me with a soft look upon his face and reached out to place his hand on my upper arm. He rubbed it gently as he gave me a gentle smile. I chuckled as it felt weird to me, especially after what I embarrassingly asked him last night. Plus we were just getting started too before the approaching sunrise put a stop to our actions. Even though I found myself still really wanting it, it just felt really silly to me today.

His eyes were twinkling as he gazed into my eyes. "What's funny?"

I smiled and shook my head. "It's just weird right now. I have some heavy thoughts and feelings going on inside this head of mine." I said while tapping my temple with my finger lightly. "I am very conflicted but I can't help but feel a bit embarrassed about last night." I said that last part sheepishly. Damn! I am losing my fire. Normally I would be more bold and a smartass as usual but I guess that fades away when you have this heavy weight on your shoulders.

He stopped rubbing my arm and I was sad to see his smile fade away. The look on his face turned to a thoughtful one. "I hope you don't regret asking and wanting me in that way. You shouldn't feel embarrassed either. I know there are other things happening… bigger things but I think we both deserve that time with each other."

"You're right in that. I believe we do but…" I felt the knot in my throat and the tears start to form in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked tenderly and began rubbing my arm again. He slid his hand down my arm and grasped my hand and held it in his.

With my free hand I wiped the few tears away. I really wasn't a big crier. "Well, there's something else you should know." I paused and cleared my throat. "No. That's not right. There's something else I have to ask you before we take anything between us further. It is only fair for you to have all the information before you decide you want to act on these feelings with me. It would rip me apart to have asked you and face you after the fact." I looked up at him nervously and he had his brows scrunched together slightly in thought.

"What do you need to ask me Tristan?" He asked me hesitantly.

I let out a deep long sigh. "Lets sit down first." I said gesturing to a nearby table. He walked me over still holding my hand and pulled a chair out for me before sitting down in the chair next to mine.

I pulled my hand from his and took the bottle of water Pam offered me in passing. She gave me a strange look as she handed me the bottle. I had a feeling she knew what I was going to say to Eric. She nodded to me as she exited the room. I took a few gulps of the water willing myself to find the courage and strength to just come out and tell him, to ask him.

I finally made eye contact with him again and he looked uneasy. Maybe he has an idea too, like Pam, maybe he knows.

"Eric…" I took a deep breath trying to steady the nerves that were bubbling under the surface. "I have something I need to ask of you. I'm not going to lie… it's hard to ask this and it is huge." I felt the butterflies start in my stomach and I felt a little shaky all over from the nerves. I was even starting to feel a little light headed. It was overwhelming to have to sit here and ask this of somebody. It was incredibly hard to ask someone to end your life when you don't want to die. I had fought all my life to only have to give up in the end. The pain I feel in my heart right now is a crushing one.

Tears started falling down my cheeks and I felt his fingers softly wipe them away. He nudged my chin up slightly so that I would look at him. "I am pretty sure of what you are going to say or ask of me… so just come out and say it." His voice had a soothing tone to it and surprisingly that made me a little angry. Not at him but at the situation, I didn't need to be babied right now and anger might be the only way I can force this out at the moment. But as quickly as the flash of anger came it subsided, the heartbreak and loss I was feeling was way too strong to let any other emotion have way.

"You have to kill me." I clenched my jaw and bit back the tears that threatened to fall. Even though he seemed to have been expecting me to say that his eyes still widened and his face fell into his well practiced stoic mask. He shook his head but didn't say a word.

"Eric, I honestly don't think I can find any words or form any sentences that can describe the pain, heartbreak and torment I feel right now. It kills me to have to ask this of you but I need someone with the amount of strength you possess as it will be extremely difficult. I wish to the depths of the sea that there is another way but there simply isn't. Trust me. I had free roam of her head last night. I know what'll happen and what she will do when she ascends and takes me over. It's not that far away either, it's going to happen very soon." I said with a shaky voice and tears streaming down my face.

Eric still had his still mask upon his face but his eyes showed anguish. "There has to be another way. We can exorcise her from you. We can kill her somehow." He spoke through a clenched jaw and it was like he fought to get those words out.

"She and I are fused together. She spent six years making every part of us become one. So, there is no way to exorcise her. Plus there is no one with that kind of power… unless you have Zeus or God or Lucifer on speed dial. And truthfully we don't really know if any one of those dudes exist."

He shot a glare in my direction. "There has to be a way to…"

I cut him off. "There is no way! And there's very little time left. Once she fully ascends then there is absolutely no way to stop her. Trust me! I've been inside her head and inside her world, I've seen the battles she has been through and I've seen the power she has. You can't even control her with out her completely taking over me so who out there do you think can do anything in the amount of time we have available to stop her without hurting me. It's just not possible Eric." I said with a very aggravated tone. It felt like my insides were turning over on themselves. I didn't want to die but I knew it was the only option and I have to sit here and tell the man I care about that I need him to kill me. Beyond that I have to argue to try and convince him to do so. How fucked up is this situation?

Eric ran a hand through his hair and looked at me steadily. "There are some very powerful witches out there that I can have here fast. Fairies might be an option too, they have very strong powerful magic as well. There just has to be another way."

I let my head fall to the table in front of me. I groaned with frustration. I loved that he was desperately thinking and trying for another way and that he wanted to save me. But the more he protested the more it tore me up inside to let him know that my death was the only way.

I sighed as I lifted my head up to look at him again. I shook my head and looked away from him. I knew I would have trouble with asking him to do this but I thought he would listen to reason and believe me when I said it was the only way.

"Fine. Call whomever but time is very limited. If something isn't done by tomorrow night I will seek out other ways." I said looking in to his eyes sternly and before I could read a response off of his face he was gone out of his chair. I assumed he went to his office to make the calls. I didn't bother to see where he went. I still felt exhausted and the conversation took a lot out of me. Emotional turmoil can really put you down.

I had my head resting in my hands so I didn't see who sat in the seat Eric had occupied but I heard the chair move. I looked up to see a very serious looking Pam.

"What is she going to do? What are her plans?" She asked sternly and without blinking.

I sat up and regarded her for a moment. I ran a hand through my hair and took a few drinks of the water she had given me earlier. Her eyes never left me as I gathered myself. "She wants to watch the world burn. She'll take every human life on this planet and it is going to be brutal. Were, shifters, and vampires… well, she's saving you for her underlings. After she's done with the humans she is going to tear a hole in the wall between our dimensions and bring her demons into this world, our universe. Her demons will be allowed to do unspeakable things to the supes of this world." I looked to Pam and what I saw on her face wasn't a look that surprised me, it seemed natural. She had a look of self preservation on her face, well, at least that's how I distinguished the look.

"And you are willing to die?" She asked slowly. I believe I am starting to catch her drift. It's seems that if her maker wont kill me she will definitely try.

"It's what I have to do. I don't want to die but I have to be killed in order to save a billion." That last part actually made this slightly easier for me. Sometimes you have to kill to save a life, right?

She looked deep in thought for a few moments before her piercing blue yes seared into me once again. "I would do it if Eric says no but he can also command me not to and I cannot defy an order from him. You might want to consider Bill Compton…" A smirk played on her lips but faded away quickly. "He has no real attachment to you and I'm sure he would be willing especially if he though Sookie might be in danger." She gave me a wink as she stood from her chair and glided out of the room. Yeah, she doesn't walk… she glides.

I thought about what she said and in some weird way I was glad that she was on my side and understood the importance of the issue. Not that I felt that Eric didn't understand but as Pam coyly pointed out in mentioning that Bill has no attachment to me, Eric does. Hence the reason he is fighting this and trying to find another way. I understood this from the start of the evening but it elevates the meaning when someone else points it out as well.

Bill was around one hundred and fifty years old and Pam was just over two hundred years old and that meant that their strength level was pretty much the same, too bad I don't think that they are strong enough. I don't know for sure of course so I wont rule it out but I need someone close to Eric's age if he wont do it. Too bad his maker was dead as I am sure he would have been strong enough. Though from what Sookie told me about their time in Dallas and knowing Godric, he most likely wouldn't want to kill me. Then again he might as he became somewhat protective of human life. I wonder how old the queen is? I need someone or I guess I need a vamp of superior strength.

The ideal vamp of superior strength walked back into the room and sat down at the table next to me. He looked frustrated and stressed, if that was possible for a vamp to look that way. "Tristan, I made some calls." He took an unneeded breath. "I have a witch that believes he might be able to help but he needs to examine you first. Basically to see if there is a way to separate you from Sculacious. The fairies have said that there is no way and that no matter what you will die. Either Sculacious will kill you when she ascends or the magic will kill you in order to kill her. So the witch is on his way as I will take any small chance I can get right now."

I placed my hand over his on the table. "I'm sorry I asked you to do this. I need someone of strength and you are the oldest and strongest vampire I know. I understand that our _attachment_ is keeping you from doing what's necessary. I really hate seeing what just me asking is doing to you and I can't bear to think of what it would do for you to actually go through with it. Maybe I should find someone else. If I could kill myself then I would but it needs to be the heart."

"I understand your reasons for asking. I get it. I really do but I don't want you to give up because we might find a way." He said softly as he gave me a look of confidence. He was determined and bless him for that.

"I don't think you fully understand. I am not giving up. I am offering my life in order to save everyone else's including yours. Eric…" I locked eyes with him and fiercely stared into his as I really wanted to convey the seriousness of what I was going to say next. "She is going to slaughter every human on this planet and then she is going to unleash her underlings on all the supes that remain. Literally it will become a sort of hell here." Through that statement to Eric I finally found my resolve to this. Of course I don't want to die but I couldn't be selfish and force everyone else to die because I hesitated and couldn't find the power within myself to do what's right. Granted I never cared much for others in this world but they certainly didn't deserve to die because I had a rough life.

"You might not have to offer your life. There is a chance of stopping her and you not paying the ultimate price." He spoke with conviction and I was aware that he wasn't going to give in easily.

"I will die either way. Killing her means killing me. If she does ascend, the second she does my life is gone as she will have completely taken me over. So basically, it's either save the world or watch it go down in flames while her demons do unspeakable tortures to you and every other supe out there. Oh and we are _really_ running out of time as she is aware of everything we talk about." I warned as Eric squeezed my hand a little and I saw his eyes widen at that statement.

"If the witch cannot do anything I…" He stared at me with his jaw clenched and flexing for a few moments before clearing his throat and continuing. "I will do what needs to be done. The witch is a last ditch effort right now and I will take any glimmer of hope I can." With that he forcefully stood up which made the chair fall back onto the floor. He stared walking away. I don't blame him for being angry and I'll most likely need him as angry as possible for the task to come.

"I hope the witch gets here fast…" I let out a slight grunt as I felt her pushing at me from the inside. She knew I was getting close to doing something about her and she no longer wanted to sit back idly and listen to plans, she knew action was upon her. "It's going to be very hard holding her back." I said with a grimace as I looked over my shoulder at him.

With vamp speed he rushed to me as I tossed my head back and let out a blood curdling scream. My back arched at the severe pain and I felt a few of my ribs crack. I lost my balance in the chair and fell to the floor. I immediately gripped my head with my hands as the sharp pains felt as though my skull was cracking open. I rolled around on the floor at the distress my body was going through at the moment. Sculacious wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer as she wanted to come out NOW.

I felt Eric's hands on me trying to stop me from thrashing around but I couldn't make out any of the words he was saying to me as my head was becoming foggy. The darkness was closing in on me and a few moments later everything stopped.

"Tristan, are you alright?" Eric asked as he slowly rolled her over onto her back. The stillness of her body was making him feel anxious and he sat back a little when she opened her eyes. She looked at him for a long moment and he looked back at her, assessing the situation. She still looked the same and her eyes hadn't changed.

"I'm ok but that was rough. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold her off Eric. She knows what's happening and she wants out." She said with a rough voice and sat up slowly. Eric helped her to her feet and warily sat her back at the table offering her another bottle of water. She opened it quickly and guzzled the water. He was looking her over as he was still trying to gauge the situation and he found himself a little uneasy with the stillness she now had and her breathing pattern seemed a little off… forced.

"You can stop looking at me like that." She snapped at him causing his eyes to flicker up to meet hers. "It really is me." She said in a more reassuring tone.

Eric looked skeptical. "You seem a little… _different._" He said carefully.

She smirked and then chuckled a little. "Just trying to recover from that. As it was the first time I ever tried to fight her off. My ribs still hurt a little and there's some discomfort when I breathe. Plus, my body feels a little fragile right now… like it's still trying to recover from what it just went through." She said with a grimace as she stretched a little and then ran a hand through her hair. "It's weird to feel this way as I usually have been healing instantly… maybe she's doing it on purpose." She looked to Eric whom had relaxed considerably. Her strange actions were subsiding a little and her explanations and actions were justified.

He stood from his chair next to her. "The witch should be here any minute. I'll be right back. I need something from my office." He touched her shoulder as he walked away and she smiled wickedly to herself. Her eyes flashed to black as she sensed the witch's arrival just outside the club's front doors. When she heard Eric walking back into the room her eyes flashed back to Tristan's deep blue color.

Eric came to stand next to her while a man of maybe six feet slipped though the front doors to Fangtasia. He had a lumbering walk as he made his way to the table she and Eric were occupying. He had short brown hair and sharp hazel eyes that he fixed upon Eric.

"Mr. Northman." He greeted with a nod.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Arnold." Eric said appreciatively and Arnold nodded. His hazel eyes moved from Eric to the strikingly beautiful woman sitting in the chair on Eric's right. She looked over his pudgy frame for a moment and the slightest smirk played at the corner of her mouth.

Eric placed a hand on her shoulder. "This is Tristan." He said as he looked down at her while she sighed.

Arnold reached out a hand for a shake and offered her a small smile. She regarded his hand momentarily before taking it in hers and gave him a polite smile of her own as her eyes twinkled slightly at the feel of his _power_ through their contact. She released his hand and he looked back to Eric.

"So… you said we didn't have much time and since there isn't much time until sunrise lets get started." He said with what she thought of as a foolish confidence.

"Absolutely. She had an episode just before you got here and this demon really wants to come forth right now so lets not waste anytime. How do you want to do this?" Eric asked looking around the room.

"Tristan would you mind sitting on one of those bar stools over there?" Arnold asked and pointed to what he was referring to in front of the bar. "It's just easier and whatever I may project your way wont be blocked by anything like a table." He unnecessarily explained.

She nodded and stood up from her chair. Eric followed her to the bar as she took a seat on one of the stools and looked at Arnold expectantly. Eric stood next to her but Arnold quickly started waving him away.

"Can you move at least five feet to your left?" He asked Eric while gesturing him to move. Eric obliged and stepped away while Arnold walked to her and stopped about a foot in front of her. "Ok. Tristan… you may feel a tingling sensation. I am going to do an assessment of the level of power in the possession and I should be able to get a feel for how embedded this demon is within you. Ok?" His voice was becoming annoyingly patronizing as if she couldn't understand what was going on. She understood a lot more than he ever would.

Arnold stretched his hand out and let it hover about three inches from her. He closed his eyes and started speaking in what appeared to be Latin in a whisper. He moved his hand slowly from side to side and up and down over her ribcage and chest. The room was dark and she cocked her head to the side slightly as she watched the mouse in front her speaking in old Latin. Her eyes turned from the deep sea blue to black as a smirk formed on her lips. This hawk was ready to grasp it's prey in it's talons.

Arnold's eyes shot open and she grabbed his outstretched hand with impossible speed and incredible force, crushing it instantly. He hollered in pain as he stared into the now glowing red eyes, she laughed sinisterly at him. He started making a coughing and wheezing sound as she started pulling his power from him. Eric stood and watched in horror as he once again couldn't move. A while light started coming from Arnold's eyes, nose, and mouth and transferred into Sculacious's hand that she had place over his face.

When the light disappeared she dropped her hand and Arnold fell to his knees before her, trembling. Sounds of a terrified man enveloped the room as Sculacious stared down at the once powerful witch in front of her.

"You come to try to cast me out!" She spat at him with the anger that was bursting out of her. "You think you can kill me!" She yelled at him. She was shaking with rage and she was staring at him intensely.

He started screaming as smoke started coming out of him. He looked down at himself and at his arms and hands in horror as flames erupted from all over his entire body. Moments later he was nothing but a pile of ash on the floor. She ferociously turned to face the stunned and immoveable Eric Northman and started approaching him with slow menacing steps.

"You should've listened to her and killed me when you had the chance." She said with a beastly and grimly tone to her voice.

* * *

**A/N: **Wow! I am so sorry for the long wait on an update for this story! It's been nearly 3 months. That's horrible. I never forgot about the story, I've just been at odds with it. But I'm back and it's back... I found my way with it again. I will not leave this story unfinished.

Hopefully there is still an audience and an interest in this story. I hope you all didn't leave in the long wait for a new chapter!

Thank you to those that have been reading from the beginning and to all the new readers. Many of you have been adding this story to favorites and/or alerts lately! Yay! Even though it had been so long you awesome peeps were still finding it and reading it. Thank you to everyone that has left a review, added the story to favorites and/or alerts. I really appreciate it.

I hope you enjoy the new chapter! Let me know what ya think!


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